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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


1^ 

■  50 


tt2.8 


2.5 
2.2 


112.0 


m 


1.4 


1.6 


V) 


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Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


;  ♦ 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquas 


Tha  Instltuta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


n 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


r~n    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagte 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  at/ou  pailiculAe 

Cover  title  missing/ 

La  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  mapa/ 

Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avac  d'autres  documents 


D 


n 


n 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liura  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
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mais,  lorsque  cela  «tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  M  filmias. 

Additional  comments:/ 
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L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  mailleur  axempiaira 
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una  image  reproduita,  ou  qui  pauvent  exiger  una 
modification  dans  la  m^thoda  normale  de  fil.naga 
sont  indiqute  ci-dessous. 


D 

n 
0 

D 
D 

n 
•n 


Coloured  pages/ 
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Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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Las  pages  totaiement  ou  partiellament 
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obtenir  la  maiMeure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  da  reduction  indiqu«  ci-dessous. 

JW 14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


/ 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


n 

32X 


ire 

details 
es  du 
modifier 
er  une 
fil.nage 


es 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Douglas  Library 
Queon's  University 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
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filming  contract  specifications. 


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sion, or  the  bacic  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^  (meaning  "COI^- 
TINUED"),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grflce  A  la 
ginArosit*  de: 

Douglas  Library 
Queen's  University 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet«  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  film«s  en  commen9ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniftre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmte  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  ciich«,  11  est  film6  d  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  an  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


errata 
to 


pelure, 
>n  ^ 


□ 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

SPEECH 


^     / 


OP 


,    MR.  BENTON,  OF  MISSOURI, 


K 


ON 


THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 


DELIVERED 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  MAY  22,  25,  &  28,  1846. 


\l     ^-53Q 


'Rzi  I 


1^^ 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  AT  THE  OFFICE  OF  BLAIR  AND  BIVES.'' 

1846. 


The  EDITH  and  LORNE  PIERCE 
COLLECTION  of  CANADI  ANA 


^eetis  University  at  Kingston 


\      I      / 


I 


■  .  Vv 


THE   OREGON  QUESTION. 


. 


The  bill  to  protect  the  rights  of  American  settlers 
in  the  Oregon  Territory  beinij  under  considera- 
tion, and  the  pending  question  being  to  refer  tlie 
bill  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  with  in- 
structions— 

Mr.  BENTON  addre.s.sed  the  Senate.  Mr.  Pres- 
ident, (said  he,)  the  bill  before  the  Senate  propo.ses 
to  extend  the  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States  over  nil'  our  territories  west  of  tlie 
Rocky  Mountains,  without  saying  what  in  the  ex- 
tent and  what  are  the  limits  of  this  territory.  This 
1.S  wronj,^,  in  my  opinion.  We  ought  to  define  the 
limits  within  which  our  agents  are  to  do  such  acts 
as  this  bill  contemplates,  otherwise  we  commit  to 
them  the  solution  of  questions  which  we  find  too 
hard  for  ourselves.  This  indefinite  cxtdnsion  of 
authority,  in  a  case  which  requires  the  utmost  pre- 
cision, forces  me  to  .speak,  and  to  give  my  opinion 
of  the  true  extent  of  our  territories  beyond  the 
Rockv  Mountains.  I  have  delayed  doing  this  du- 
ring the  whole  session,  not  from  any  desire  to  con- 
ceal my  opinions,  (which,  in  fact,  were  told  to  all 
that  asked  for  them,)  but  because  I  thought  it  the 
business  of  negotiation,  not  of  legislation,  to  settle 
these  boundaries.  I  waited  for  negotiation:  but 
negotiation  lags  while  events  go  forward;  and  now 
we  are  in  the  process  of  acting  upon  measures, 
upon  the  adoption  of  which  it  may  no  longer  be  in 
the  power  either  of  negotiation  or  of  legislation  to 
control  the  events  to  which  they  may"  give  rise. 
The  bill  before  us  is  without  definition  of  the  ter- 
ritory to  be  occufjied.  And  why  this  vagueness 
in  a  case  requiring  the  utmost  precision  ?  Why 
not  define  the  boundaries  of  these  territories .'  Pre- 
cisely because  we  do  not  know  them  !  And  this 
presents  a  case  which  requires  me  to  wait  no  longer 
for  negotiation,  but  to  come  forward  with  my  own 
opinions,  and  to  do  what  I  can  to  prevent  the  evils 
of  vague  and  indefinite  legislation.  My  object  will 
be  to  show,  if  1  can,  the  true  extent  and  nature  of 
our  territorial  claims  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
■with  a  view  to  just  and  wise  decisions ;  and  in 
doin^)- 1=0,  I  shall  endeavor  to  act  upon  the  great 
maxim,  "Ask  nothing  but  what  is  right— submit 
to  nothing  that  is  wrong." 

It  is  my  ungracious  task,  in  attempting  to  act 
upon  this  maxim,  to  commence  by  exposing  error 
at  home,  and  endeavoring  to  clear  up  some  great 
mistakes  under  which  the  public  mind  has  labored. 

It  has  been  assumed  for  two  years,  and  the  as- 
purnption  has  been  made  the  cause  of  all  the  Oregon 
excitement  in  the  country,  that  we  have  a  dividing 
line  with  Russia,  made  so  by  the  convention  of 


1824,  along  the  parallel  of  54°  40',  from  the  sea  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  up  to  which  our  title  is 
good.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  No  such  line  was 
ever  established;  and  so  far  as  propo.sed  and  dis- 
cu.ssed,  it  was  proposed  and  discussed  as  a  north- 
ern British,  and  not  as  a  northern  American  line. 
The  public  treaties  will  prove  there  is  no  such  line; 
documents  will  prove  that,  so  far  as  54^  40',  from 
the  sea  to  the  mountains,  was  ever  proposed  as  a 
northern  boundary  for  any  Power,  it  was  proposed 
by  us  for  the  British,  and  not  for  ourselves. 

To  make  myself  intelligible  in  what  I  shall  say 
on  this  point,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  the 
epoch  of  the  Russian  convention  of  1824,  and  to 
recall  the  recollection  of  the  circumstances  out  of 
which  that  convention  grew.  The  circumstances 
were  these:  In  the  year  1821  the  Emperor  Alexan- 
der, acting  upon  a  leading  idea  of  Russian  policy 
(in  relation  to  the  North  Pacific  ocean)  from  the 
time  of  Pete.r  the  Great,  undertook  to  treat  that 
ocean  as  a  close  sea,  and  to  exercise  municipal  au- 
thority over  a  great  extent  of  its  shores  and  waters. 
In  September  of  that  year,  the  Emperor  issued  a 
decree,  bottomed  upon  this  pretension,  assuming 
exclusive  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  over  both 
shores  of  the  North  Pacific  ocean,  and  over  the 
high  seas,  in  front  of  each  coast,  to  the  extent  of 
one  hundred  Italian  miles,  Vom  Bchring's  Straits 
down  to  latitude  fifty-one,  on  the  American  coast, 
and  to  forty-five  on  the  Asiatic;  and  denouncing 
the  penalties  of  confiscation  upon  all  ships,  of 
whatsoever  nation,  that  should  approach  the  coasts 
within  the  interdicted  distances.  This  was  a  very 
startling  decree.  Coming  from  a  feeble  nation,  it 
would  have  been  smiled  at:  coming  from  Russia, 
it  gave  uneasiness  to  all  nations. 

Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  as  having 
the  largest  commerce  in  the  North  Pacific  ocean, 
and  as  having  large  territorial  claims  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  America,  W(  the  first  to  take  the 
alarm  and  to  send  remonsti,,nces  to  St.  Petersburg 
against  the  formidable  ukase.  They  found  them- 
selves suddenly  thrown  together,  and  standing  side 
i)y  side  in  this  new  and  portentous  contest  with 
Russia.  They  remonstrued  in  concert,  and  here 
the  wise  and  pacific  conduct  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander displayed  itself  in  the  most  prompt  and  hon- 
orable manner.  He  immediately  suspended  the 
ukase,  (which,  in  fact,  had  remained  without  exe- 
cution,) and  invited  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  to  unite  with  Russia  in  a  convention  to  set- 
tle amicably  and  in  a  spirit  of  mutual  convenience 
all  the  questions  between  them,  and  especially  their 


'  'OQ  .\/fiW..H^-|^ 


I 


respective  territorial  claims  on  the  nortliwest  coast 
of  Anierica.    This  mngimiiiiiKtus  proposition  was 
immediately  met  by  the  two  Powers  in  a  corre- 
sponding spirit;  nnd.thenkase  being  voluntarily 
relinqiiiahed   by  the  Emperor,  a  convention  waa 
quickly  sifted  by  Russia  with  each  Power,  settling, 
so  far  as  Ilussia  was  concerned,  with  each,  all  iheir 
territorial  claims  in  Northwest  America.    The  Em- 
peror Alexander  had  proposed  that  it  should  be  a 
joint  convention  of  the  three  Powers — a  tripartite 
convention — settling  the  claims  of  each  and  of  all 
at  the  same  time;  and  if  this  wise  suggestion  had 
been  followed,  all  the  subsequent  and  all  the  pres- 
ent difficulties  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  with  respect  to  this  territory,  would  have 
been  entirely  avoided.     But  it  was  not  followed: 
an  act  of  our  own  prevented  it.     After  Great  Biit- 
ain  had  consented,  the  non-colonization  princij)le — 
the  principle  of  non-colonization  in  Americf>  by  any 
European  Power — was  promulgated  by  our  Gov- 
ernment, and  for  that  reason  Great  Britain  chose 
to  treat  separately  with  each  Power,  and  so  it  was 
done. 

Great  Britain  and  the  United  Stales  treated  scpa- 
ftitely  with  Russia,  and  with  each  other;  and  each 
came  to  agreements  with  Russia,  but  to  none 
among  themselves.  The  agreements  with  Russia 
were  contained  in  two  conventions,  signed  nearly 
at  the  same  time,  and  nearly  in  the  same  words, 
limiting  the  territorial  claim  of  Russia  to  54°  40', 
confining  her  to  the  coast  and  islands,  and  leaving 
the  continent,  out  to  the  Racky  Mountains,  to  be 
divided  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, by  an  agreement  between  themselves.  The 
Emperor  finished  up  his  own  business,  and  quit 
the  concern.  In  fact,  it  would  seem,  fVom  the 
romptitude,  moderation,  and  fairness  with  which 
e  adjusted  all  differences  both  with  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  that  his  only  object  in 
issuing  the  alarming  ukase  of  1821  was  to"  bring 
those  Powers  to  a  settlement;  acting  upon  the 
homely,  but  wise  maxim,  that  short  settlements 
make  long  ft-iends. 

These  are  the  circumstances  out  of  which  the 
British  and  American  conventions  grew  with  Rus- 
sia in  the  yeai-s  1824-'25.  They  are  public  treaties, 
open  to  all  perusal,  and  eminently  worthy  of  being 
read.  I  will  read  the  third  article  of  each — the  one 
which  applies  to  boundaries — and  which  will  con- 
firm all  that  I  have  said.  The  article  in  the  con- 
vention with  the  United  States  is  in  these  words  : 

"  Art.  3.  It  is  moreover  agreed,  that,  liercafter,  there  phall 
not  be  formed,  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  under 
the  authority  of  the  said  States,  any  egtitblisliment  upon  the 
northwest  coast  of  Anieriea,  nor  in  any  of  the  iilaixls  adja- 
cent, to  the  north  of  fifty-^oar  dciirees  and  forty  minulcs  of 
north  latitude  ;  and  that,  tn  the  same  manner,  tliere  shall  be 
none  formed  by  Russian  subjects',  or  under  the  authority  of 
Russia,  south  of  the  same  parallel." 

This  is  the  article  which  governs  th(  American 
boundary  with  Russia,  confined  by  ii.s  precise 
terms  to  the  islands  and  coasts, and  having  no  man- 
tier  of  relation  to  tlie  continent.  The  article  in  the 
British  convention  with  Russia,  governing  her 
boundary,  is  in  the  same  words,  so  far  as  the  limit 
is  concerned,  and  only  more  explicit  with  respect 
to  the  continent.  Like  our  own,  it  is  the  third  ar- 
ticle of  the  convention,  and  is  in  these  worfls: 

"  Art.  3.  The  line  of  demarcation  between  the  posses- 
eiom  or  the  hish  coutiacting  parties,  upon  the  coast  of  Uie 
continent,  and  tbe  islands  of  Auiuriva,  to  tUu  uortliwust,  shall 


be  drnuii  in  the  manner  following :  Commeueing  from  the 
HoiilheniiniHt  jioint  of  the  iflanif  riilled' I'ri' c-e  of  \Va'e.< 
Island,  which  point  lies  in  the  parnllel  ofr-;-  40'  north  lati- 
tude, and  between  i.'llst  and  iy;)d  degree  of  west  lonuilude 
(meridian  of  Greenwich,)  the  saiil  line  shall  a-<eeiid  to  the 
north  iiliHiK  the  ehanntl  called  I'orjland  Canal,  a.i  fur  as  llie 
|M)int  of  the  confmr;;)/,  where  it  Hiiikes  the  5(5lli  degree  of 
north  Intitude.  From  tl'ls  last-mentioned  pdnt,  M  the  point 
ot  interseetion  of  thi;  l-llst  degree  of  wt>t  longitude,  will 
prcivi  '<!  be  at  the  di.«tanc(^  of  more  than  ten  marine  leagues 
Irom  th.  'CI  an.  Tlu'  limit  between  the  llrilish  po-ses^^ions 
and  the  line  of  const  whieh  is  to  belong  to  RiiMsia,  as  above 
mentioned,  shall  be  formed  bv  a  line  parallel  to  tbe  wind- 
inas  of  the  coast,  and  which  slnill  never  exceed  tiiedi>taneu 
ot  tei  marine  leamies  therefrom.  And  the  line  of  demarca- 
tion shall  follow  the  summit  of  the  mountiiins  situated  par- 
allel to  the  coad  as  far  as  'i.''  point  of  intersection  of  the 
Hist  dejjree  of  west  longitude,  (of  the  same  meridian  ;)  and, 
linally,  irom  the  said  point  of  intersection,  the  said  meriilian 
line  of  the  Hist  degree,  in  its  prolongation  as  far  as  th('  Fro- 
zen Oiean,  shall  form  the  limit  between  the  lliissiaii  and 
Hiitisli  po.sscBsion3  on  the  coiUiiient  of  America  to  tlie  north- 
west." 

These  are  the  proofs,  these  the  conventions  which 
established  liirits  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Amer- 
ica between  the  United  States  and  Russia  in  1824, 
and  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia  in  1825. 
They  are  identical  in  object  and  nearly  in  terms; 
they  grow  out  of  the  same  difficulties  and  terminate 
ill  the  same  way.  By  each  the  Russian  claim  is 
confined  to  the  coast  and  the  islands;  by  each  the 
same  limit  is  given  both  to  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain;  and  that  limit  was  fixed  at  the  south 
end  of  an  island,  to  the  latitude  of  which  (sup- 
PQged  to  be  in  55°,  but  found  to  be  in  54'^  40')  the 
Emperor  Paul  had  granted  the  privileges  of  trade 
to  the  Russian  American  Fur  Company.  It  was 
a  limit  wholly  in  the  water,  not  at  all  on  the  land. 
The  American  line  never  touches  land,  the  British 
only  reaches  it  by  going  north  throui^h  Portland 
Canal  to  56°,  ana  thence  to  pursue  the  coast  at 
ten  leagues  from  it  northwardly  to  61°,  and  thence 
due  north  to  the  Frozen  Ocean :  leaving  to  the  Rus- 
sians only  the  projecting  part  of  the  continent  which 
approaches  Asia,  ana  narrows  the  ocean  into  the 
strait  which  Behring  found,  and  which  bears  his 
name.  This  is  the  Russian  line  on  the  continent 
with  Great  Britain;  the  United  States  have  no  con- 
tinental line  either  with  Russia  or  Great  Britain. 

I  have  shown  you  the  limits  established  with 
Russia  in  1824;  I  have  produced  the  treaties  wliich 
established  them;  and  here  also  is  a  map  which 
illustrates  them,  and  shows  everything  precisely 
as  I  have  read  it  from  the  treaties,  ft  is  a  map 
of  Mr.  Greenhow,  a  clerk  in  the  Department  of 
State,  who,  so  long  as  he  confines  himself  to  the 
business  of  copying  maps  and  voyages,  does 
very  well;  but  when  he  goes  to  issuing  opinions 
upon  national  subjects,  and  setting  the  world 
right  abou:  the  execution  or  non-executic.i  of  a 
great  treaty,  as  that  tlie  line  of  forty-nine  was 
never  estaolished  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht — 
when  he  goes  at  this  work,  the  Lord  deliver  us 
from  the  Humbug !  But  here  is  the  map,  with  the 
lines  all  right  upon  it,  drawn  in  the  water  and  along 
the  coast  according  to  the  treaties.  First,  a  few 
dots  in  the  water  a>,  the  end  of  Prince  of  Wales 
Island,  in  latitude  54°  40';  then  a  dotted  line  up 
north,  through  the  middle  of  Portland  Canal,  to 
latitude  56;  then  nortwestwardly  along  the  coast, 
and  ten  leagues  from  it,  to  61°;  ajid  then  north  to 
the  Frozen  Ocean.  No  line  at  all  along  54°  40'  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  ai''d  timt  is  right,  for  the 
treaties  never  put  one  there. 


?\ 


I 


J 


»-"' 


5 


1 


.J 


IR- 


And  here  is  nnnthrr  map  which  ilhistratea  error, 
and  ^*-iws  you  a  hne  on  paper  where  there  is  none 
on  and  ot  wl.i'-h  the  Senate  has  ordered  ten 

•;iout  extra  copies  to  be  printed  for  the  instruc- 
tion o;  tiu:  people.  Here  it  ^nes,  rtinninj^  straij^ht 
throusrh  ftom  the  sea  to  the  mountains,  rnrin"'  for 
nothing  in  its  course— cutting  lakes  in  two,  dividing 
ncigliboring  posts  from  each  other,  and  reckless  of 


everything  except  to  follow  fifty-four  forty.  Thai 
It  pursues  with  undevinting  fidelity;  and  the  en- 
graver Itis  marked  il  strong  on  the  map,  that  no 
one  may  overlook  it.  In  all  this  there  is  but  one 
fault,  and  that  is,  that  there  is  no  such  thing— no 
such  line  upon  earth!  never  was,  and  never  can 
be,  by  ary  prmciple  recognised  at  the  time  that  the 
KuRsian  convention  of  1824  was  made. 

Well,  there  is  no  such  line;   and  that  would 
seem  to  be  enough  to  quiet  the  excitement  which 
has  beeti  got  up  about  it.     But  there  is  more  to 
-  Tc-^^c     I  ««'»"' with  saying,  that  although  this 
fifty-four  forty  was  never  established  as  a  northern 
boundary  for  the  United  States,  yet  it  was  pro- 
posed to  be  established  as  a  north*  rn  boundary 
not  for  us,  but  for  Great  Britain— and  that  pro- 
posal  was  made  to  Great  Britain  by  ourselves 
Ihis  must  sound  like  a  strange  statement  in  the 
ears  of  the    fifty-four-forties,   but  it  is  no  more 
strange  than  true;  and  after  stating  the  facts,  I 
mean  to  prove  them.     The  plan  of  the  United 
States  at  that  time  was  this:  That  each  of  the 
three  Powen.  (Great  Britain,  Russia,  and  the  Uni- 
ted States)  haying  claims  on  the  northwest  coast 
of  America  should  divide  the  country  between 
them,  each  taking  a  third.     In  this  plan  of  par- 
tition, each  was  to  receive  a  share  of  the  continent 
from    the  sea  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Russia 
taking  the  northern  slice,  the  United  Slates  the 
southern,  and  Great  Britain  the  centre,  with  fifty- 
four  forty  for  her  northern  boundary,  und  forty- 
nine  for  her  sou'  hern.     The  document  from  which 
1  now  read  will  say  fifty-one;  but  that  was  the  first 
offer— forty-nme  was  the  real  one,  as  I  will  here- 
after show     This  was  our  plan.     The  moderation 
of  Russia  defeated  it.     That  Power  had  no  set tle- 
nrients  on  that  part  of  the  continent,  and  rejected 
the  contiuental  share  which  we  oflcred  her.     She 
imited  herself  to  the  coasts  and  islands  where  she 
had  settlements,  and  left  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  to  share  the  continent  between  them- 
selves.     But  before  this  was  known,  we  had  pro- 
posed to  her  fifty-four  forty  for  the  Russian  south 


"I  at  onec  unfoldod  to  him  (Mr.  Cnnning)  the  propomU 
of  my  Oov('riuueiit,  wliicli  wor.,.;  I.  Tlmt,  um  ri'ujlnl.'d  tlio 
ooiintry  lying  i»lw,'i;n  tli<'  Slcny  Moiiiitaiiirt  iiiul  ili,.  I'luillc 
no'nn,  (.rent  BHfiiin.  111..  UniU'.l  Hi,,fi.N,  niul  ItiNsia,  slioiil'l 
Jointly  oriter  info  a  convention,  similar  in  itH  nnturu  to  tlin 
Uiird  articio  of  the  convention  of  thi;  SMJtIi  of  OctotxT,  18IH. 
n(|vv  fxiHtiriKlictwocti  llu-  two  former  I'dwer;.,  by  wliioh  tliu 
wtiol,'  ot  tliat  country  wtstwiird  of  the  Htony  MountaiiiH. 
aiK  all  itM  watftr--,  woiilil  l.c  fVco  and  open  to  the  riiizcns 
and  sulij(.(tH  of  the  three  Powers  as  long  m  the  joint  con- 
vention rcinained  in  force.  ThiH,  my  Oovernment  proposed, 
Hliould  be  for  tlio  term  of  ten  y.ars.  2.  Tlmt  the  IJnit.d 
Hmte.s  were  vvilhn«  to  stipulate  to  irinke  no nettlomontH  north 
01  the  (iHy-|irHt  degree  of  north  latitude  on  that  const,  pro- 
vided (.rent  Uritnin  stipulated  to  make  none  «oulh  of  fifty- 
one,  or  north  of  .ifty-live,  und  Kudsiato  make  none  suuth  of 
fliiynvo." 

Here  is  the  ofTer,  in  the  most  explicit  terms,  in 
1823,  to  make  fifty-five,  which  was  in  fact  fifty- 
four  forty,  the  northern  boundary  of  Great  Britain; 
and  here  is  her  answer  to  that  proposition.  It  is 
the  next  paragraph  in  the  same  despatch  from  Mr. 
Rush  to  Mr.  Adams: 

•'  Mr.  Canning  expressed  no  opini(m  on  nny  of  these 
pointri;  but  hi.s  inquiries  and  remarks,  under  that  which 
proposes  to  eonlinethe  British  souli'inentB  between  filty-ono 
and  fifty-hve,  were  evidently  of  a  naUire  to  indicate  strona 
ohieetions  on  his  fide,  though  he  professed  to  spenk  only 
troni  his  first  iinprcwions.  Jt  is  more  proper,  I  should  Ray, 
that  Ins  objeeuons  were  direeted  to  our  proposiU  of  not  let- 
ting Groat  liritain  Ro  aliove  fifty-tive  north  with  her  s.'tUe- 
menfs,  wliile  we  allowed  Russia  to  come  down  to  that  line 
with  hers.  In  treating  of  this  coas.,  he  had  supposed  -'at 
(.rent  Britain  had  her  northern  question  with  Russia,  as  ner 
soutliern  with  tlie  United  Stat.'s.  He  could  see  a  motive 
j  for  the  IJiiitcil  States  desiriuK  to  stop  the  si'ttlemrnts  of 
Grcnt  Rritain  southward ;  hut  he  had  not  befiire  known  of 
llieir  desire  to  stop  them  northward,  and,  above  all,  over 
hniits  conceded  to  Russia.  It  was  to  tlijs  elTect  Uiat  his  sue- 
gcsuons  wont."  " 

This  was  her  answer,  refusing  to  take,  in  1823, 
as  a  no.  tliern  boundary  comina:  south  for  quantity, 
what  is  now  prescribed  to  her,  at  the  peril  of  war, 
for  a  southern  boundary,  with  nothing  north !— for^ 
although  the  fact  happens  to  be  that  Russia  is  not 
there,  bounding  us  on  the  north,  yet  that  makes 
no  difference  in  the  philosophy  of  our  Fifty-Four- 
Forties,  who  believe  it  to  be  so;  and,  on  that  be- 
lief, are  ready  to  fight.  Their  noticn  is,  Ithat  we 
go  jam  up  to  54°  40',  and  the  Russians  come  jam 
down  to  the  same,  leaving  no  place  for  the  British 
lion  to  put  down  a  paw,  although  that  paw  should 
be  no  bigger  than  the  sole  of  the  dove's  foot  which 
sought  a  resting  place  from  Noah's  ark.  This 
must  seem  a  little  strange  to  British  statesmen, 
who  do  not  grow  so  fast  as  to  leave  all  knowledge 
behind  them.     They  remember  that  Mr.  Monroe 


em  bonndnrv  „n,  f^  n  ^  t>  •  •  "''T'*'""  ''™"^'  "•=",'•."  ""^"'-  -^"^7  remember  tfiat  Mr.  Monro* 
he  noSe.,f^fnl^  ■'"',  S"'^'"  the  same  for  and  h..sCabinet-the  President  and  Cabinet  Who  ac- 
foi  nk  Inl  ^Z  \-  ■  ^  r>^  ^^y^"'''  forty;  quired  the  Spanish  title  under  which  we  now  pro- 
fif;-five  vftJti^"''^,'"  "'"  P'-,°P"^i"""  was  i  pose  10  squeeze  them  out  of  the  confinent-actu- 
ffvfour'^,wv  n  "'  "''  '"'•""''■'  ^^"=^  S^-'''  '^'lyofi'ered  them  six  degrees  of  latitude  in  that 
;;]:rl3^!;!'Ay-'^;;^^'''>V  ™""^       *■•"">  the  south  |  vc-y  place;  and  they  wilf  certainly  want  reasons 


end  of  Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  supposed  to  be  in 
mty-hve,  but  found  to  have  a  point  to  it  runnino- 
down  to  fifty-four  forty.  We  proposed  this  to 
Grea  Britain.  She  refused  it,  saying  she  would 
establish  her  northern  boundary  wUh  Russia,  who 
was  on  her  north,  and  not  with  the  United  States 
who  was  on  her  south.     This  seemed  reasonable! 


tor  this  so  much  compression  now,  where  we  offer- 
ed them  so  much  expansion  then.  These  reasons 
cannot  be  given.  There  is  no  boundary  at  54° 
40';  and  so  .ar  as  we  proposed  to  make  it  one,  it 
was  for  the  British,  and  not  for  ourselves;  and  so 
ends  this  redoubtable  line,  up  to  which  all  true 
patriots  were  to  march  !  and  marching,  fight !  and 


and  \Uo  TTnifo,!  «t„V     .i  •';-<=o'>^>«  »tM«uimijie;  ,  (nuuuts  were  lo  marcn  i  ana  marching,  tight    am 

ami  the  United  States  then,  and  not  until  then,  re-  i  fighting,  die!  if  need  be!  singin-  all  the  while 
hnquished  the  business  of  pressing  fifty-four  f^rty    with  Horace-  sin^m,  all  tlie  while 

upon  Great  Britain  for  her  northern  boundar/. 
Ifie  proof  is  in  the  Executive  documents.  Here 
It  iS--a  despatch  from  Mr.  Rush,  our  Minister  in 

n'"  ",''  ^",n  '"o^o'^''""''  Secretary  of  State,  dated 
December  19, 1823: 

\ 


"  Dulre  et  decorum  eat  pro  palriA  mori." 
Sweet  anil  decent  it  is  to  die  for  one's  country. 

And  this  is  the  end  of  that  "rent  lir,"  !  ,".!!  o-nne 

vanished— evaporated  into  thai  air— and  the  place 
where  it  was,  not  to  be  found.   Oh !  mountain  that 


ky^- 


■»'v-'* 


6 


wnii  delivered  of  r  mouse,  tliy  name  slmll  hence- 
Cortli  he  fifty-four  forty!  Ami  tliuH.  Mr.  PuNi- 
dint,  I  trust  I  liave  cxpiodt'd  oiiu  of  iJilr  errors  into 
wliich  thf.  puljliti  mind  Iihh  Iiccu  ltd,  luid  wliicli  it 
in  necesBory  to  get  rid  of  before  we  can  find  the 
ri^ht  pliiccfor  our  Oregon  boundaries. 

1  proceed  to  uiiother  of  the  Hainu  fiimilv — the 
dot'ina  of  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  the  Oref^on 
title,  i',nd  its  resultitiR  corollary  of  all  or  none. 

It  is  n-ssumed  by  the  "friindnnf  Otv/foii  "  to  be 
nil  one  title,  all  the  way  from  4^  up  to  54°  40' — 
no  break  in  it;  and,  consequently,  "  nil  or  nojie  " 
is  the  only  logical  solution  which  our  claim  to 
it  Can  receive.  Well,  this  may  be  brave  and 
patriotic,  but  is  it  wise  and  true?  And  can  we, 
with  clear  consciences,  and  without  regard  to  con- 
sequences, pass  a  law  upon  that  principle,  and 
send  our  agents  there  to  execute  it  ?  These  are  the 
questions  which  present  themselves  to  my  mind, 
and  in  answering  which  I  wish  to  keep  before  my 
eyes  the  first  half  of  the  great  maxim — ask  nothing 
but  what  is  right.  I  answer,  then,  that  it  is  not  true 
that  our  title  to  what  is  called  all  Oregon  is  one, 
but  si'seral;  that  it  consists  of  parts,  and  is  good 
for  part,  and  bad  for  part;  and  that  nothing  just  or 
wise  can  be  determined  in  relation  to  it  without 
separating  these  parts  into  their  proper  divisions, 
and  giving  to  each  division  the  separate  considera- 
tion and  judgment  which  belongs  to  it.  Thus  the 
title  to  the  Columbia  river  and  its  valley  was  com- 

fdete  before  the  claim  to  Frazer's  river  and  its  val 
ey  began;  and  the  claim  to  the  islands  and  coasts 
rests  upon  a  different  state  of  facts,  and  a  different 
principle  of  national  law,  from  that  which  aj)plie3 
to  the  continent. 

The  title  to  the  Columbia  river  and  its  valley 
rests  upon  discovery  and  settlement,  and  was  com- 
plete before  our  acquisition  of  the  Spanish  title  in 
1819.  The  claim  to  Frazer's  river  and  its  val- 
ley, and  to  the  noasts  and  islands  in  front  of  it,  be- 
fan  in  1319,  and  rests  upon  the  discoveries  of 
panish  navigators  ;  and  of  these  discoveries,  the 
islands  and  the  continent  have  very  different  de- 
grees of  evidence  to  exhibit.  I  mention  these  dif- 
ferences of  title  as  facts  too  well  known  to  require 
documents  to  prove  them  ;  and  the  bare  statement 
of  which  should  be  sufficient  to  explode  the  dogma 
of  the  unity  and  indivisibiUty  of  the  Oregon  liile. 
It  is  not  "  all  one  title.'"  It  is  not  good  "for  all  w 
none."  It  is  not  a  unity.  There  are  breaks  in 
it ;  and  these  breaks  are  sufficiently  large  to  cover 
largo  geographical  divisions  of  the  country,  and  re- 
quire separate  consideration  and  judgment.  That 
consideration  will  be  given  at  the  proper  place; 
at  present  I  limit  myself  to  the  correction  of  the 
error,  so  widely  spread  over  the  public  mind,  that 
the  Oregon  title  is  all  one  title,  from  42°  to  54°  40'. 
I  come  to  the  line  of  Utrecht,  the  existence  of 
which  is  denied  upon  this  floor  by  Senators  whose 
fate  it  seems  to  be  to  assert  the  existence  of  a  line 
that  is  not,  and  to  deny  the  existence  of  one  that  is. 
A  clerk  in  the  Department  of  State  has  comjjiled  a 
volume  of  voyages  and  of  treaties,  and,  under- 
taking to  set  the  world  right,  has  denied  that  com- 
missaries ever  met  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  and 
fixed  boundaries  between  the  British  northern 
and  French  Canadiati  possessions  in  North  Amer- 
ica. That  denial  has  been  produced  and  accredit- 
ed <>n  this  flonr  by  a  Sen.atnr  in  his  place,  [Mr. 
Cass  ;]  and  this  production  of  a  blundering  book, 


with  this  Senatorial  end(»rsement  of  its  nuscrtion, 
lays  me  under  the  necessity  of  correcting  a  third 
error  which  the  "  fifty-four  forties"  hug  to  tlicir 
bosom,  and  the  conectinn  of  which  becoini's  ne- 
cessary for  the  vindication  of  history,  the  estalillHh- 
ment  of  a  i)olitical  right,  and  the  protection  of  the 
Senate  from  the  sn.i|)icion  of  igmirance. 

I  affirm  tliat  the  line  was  eslabli.shed;  that  the 
cominissarieH  met  and  did  their  work;  imd  that 
what  they  did  has  been  uci|uiesced  in  by  all  the 
Powers  interested  ftom  the  year  171.)  down  to  the 
present  time.  This  is  my  nffinnalion;  and,  in  sup- 
port of  it,  and  without  repeating  anything  said 
heretofore,  I  .-ihall  produce  some  new  proofs,  and 
take  some  new  positions,  the  first  of  which  xa,  that 
this  line  was  enforced  by  us  (without  anything 
else  but  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  to  stand  upoii^  for 
fifteen  years— from  IrfOa  to  1818— as  the  nortliein 
boundary  line  of  Louisiana,  and  submitted  to  as 
such  by  the  British  Government;  and  British 
traders  therobj^  kept  out  of  our  territories  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  while  our  own  trciuics  let  them 
into  our  territories  on  this  side  of  the  river.  In  a 
word,  I  will  show  that  this  treaty  of  Utrecht  saved 
us  from  a  caUiiuiiy  for  fifteen  yeiuv,  in  our  new 
territory  of  Louisiana, acquired  from  Franco,  which 
the  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  and  Mr.  Jay's  treaty 
of  1784,  exposed  us  to  in  our  old  territories  of  the 
Ilnited  States,  conquered  for  us  by  our  fathers  in 
the  war  of  the  Ilovohuion.  This  is  my  first  posi- 
Kion,  and  this  is  the  case  which  sustains  it. 

In  the  year  1803  the  United  States  acquired 
Louisiana,  and  with  it  became  a  party  to  all  the 
treaties  whii'h  concerned  the  boundaries  of  that 
province.  The  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  one  of  these, 
and  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  one  of  the  lines  es- 
tablished by  it,  and  governing  its  northern  bound- 
ary. We  soon  had  occasion  for  the  protection  of 
that  boundary.  Sjianish  connivance  and  weak- 
ness had  suffered  British  traders  to  invade  the 
whole  northern  flank  of  Louisiana,  from  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods  to  the  head-waters  of  the  Missouri 
i-iver;  and  on  our  n(;quiNition  of  that  province,  we 
found  these  tradeis  in  the  actual  possession  of  the 
Indian  trade  throughout  all  that  extensive  region. 
These  traders  were  doing  immense  mischief  among 
our  Indians  on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi,  by 
poisoning  their  minds  and  preparing  v'.em  for  war 
against  the  United  States.  The  treaty  of  peace 
and  Mr.  Jay's  treaty,  under  the  delusive  idea  of 
reciprocity,  gave  them  this  privilege  of  tnule  in 
the  old  territories  of  the  United  States.  Experience 
of  its  evil  effects  had  taught  a  lesson  of  wisdom; 
and,  while  vainly  striving  to  get  rid  of  the  treaty 
stipulations  which  admitted  these  Indians  on  this 
side  of  the  Mississij)pi  river,  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
was  eagerly  seized  upon  to  expel  theia  from  the 
other.  Mr.  Greenhow's  compilation  was  not  pub- 
lished at  that' time,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his 
Cabinet,  proceeding  according  to  the  lights  of  their 
little  farthing  candles,  in  the  absence  of  that  vast 
luminary,  just  took  the  line  of  forty-nine  as  the 
;iorthern  boundary  of  L.^'iisiana,  and  drove  all  the 
British  traders  to  the  north  of  that  line 

'These  traders  com[)lained  loudly,  and  appealed 
to  their  Government;  but  the  British  Ministry, 
just  as  much  in  the  dark  as  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his 
'Cabinet,  refused  to  take  official  notice  of  the  com- 
plaint, onlv  pvesi'ut.ed  it  unofficially  to  the  United 
States  Ministers  in  London,  and  asked  us  a  favor^ 


k 


not  an  a  riglit,  tlic  privilrgo  of  trading  it  Louiii- 
iana  south  of  49°.  Of  courso  thiH  fnvor  tvnii  not 
f,'rantrd;  nnd  tlnm  Dritirth  trndiTS  wore  exdiidrd 
from  LouiNiatm  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  wliili;  ad- 
mitted into  the  old  northwest  territory  of  the 
Union  by  virtue  of  our  treaties  with  Great  Uritnin. 
The  treaty  of  Utrecht  did  for  us  what  our  own 
treaties  did  not.  And  this  was  the  case  from  the 
year  1803,  the,  year  of  the  acn\iisition  of  Lnuiiiiana, 
until  1HI8,  the  year  of  concluding  tlie  convention 
with  Great  Hritain  which  adopted  the  line  of 
Utrecht  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Then,  for 
the  first  time,  the  northern  line  of  Louisiana  was 
agreed  upon  in  a  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain.  Tiiat  convention  was  an  act 
of  supererogation,  ho  far  as  it  followed  the  line  of 
Utrecht — an  act  of  deep  injury  .so  far  us  it  stopped 
it.  The  line  of  49°  was  junt  as  well  cstablislicd, 
and  just  as  well  respected  and  observed,  from  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  be- 
fore that  convention  as  after  it.  Nay,  more;  it 
was  the  understood  line  beyond  those  mountains 
to  the  sea,  and  would  itself  have  settled  the  Oregon 
question,  and  settled  it  wisely  and  beneficially  if  it 
had  only  been  permitted  to  remain  unmutilated. 

Tliis  is  the  ca.sc.     Now  for  the  proofs. 

I  read  extracts  from  an  unofficial  communication 
made  by  the  British  Ministers,  in  1806,  to  Messrs. 
Monroe  and  Pinckncy,  our  Ministers  at  that  time 
in  London,  and  by  them  communicated  to  our  own 
Government.  It  is  the  substance  of  the  complaints 
of  the  Canada  merchants  against  the  Governor  of 
Louisiana  for  excluding  them  from  that  province, 
and  their  application  to  the  British  Government  to 
be  restored  to  it.     The  whole  paper  is  in  our  State 

f)apers  of  that  period,  and  may  there  be  read  at 
ength  by  any  one  who  desires  it: 

"  Mitra  ojjicial  cnmmunicdtion  with  regard  to  the  Canada 
trade."    Dci cmAcr  31.  180fi. 

"  A  iiiniinrml  lius  been  prescnttul  to  Lord  [lollniul  nnd 
Lord  Auklnnd,  on  the  iinrtot'itic  Canada  niercliants,  setting 
forth  a  varii'ty  of  injiirii'8  which  they  complain  of  having 
su^taiucd  Iroin  the  Government  and  servuntH  of  the  tlnitcd 
Stalea,  nnd  prnyinK  that  their  complaints  may  be  attended 
to,  and  redress  obtained  for  thorn  in  tlie  discii'tiHioMs  which 
are  at  present  pending  butween  the  American  ami  British 
Commissioners. 

"  The  injnries  brnn(;ht  forward  in  their  memorial  mav  be 
reduced  to  the  tliree  following  heads:  1.  Their  exdiision 
from  Loiiisitina. 

"  By  the  third  article  of  the  treaty  of  1794,  it  is  n^reed 
Ihat  it  shall  -it  all  times  be  free  to  his  Majesty's  snlijeets  nnd 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  freely  to  pass  by  land  or 
inland  navisation  into  the  respective  territories  and  coun- 
tries of  the  two  parties  on  tlie  continent  of  America,  and  to 
navigate  all  the  lakes  nnd  waters  thereof,  and  freely  to  carry 
on  trade  with  each  other." 

"  Hut,  notwithstanding  this  express  stipulation,  which 
secures  to  his  Majesty's  sulijects,  without  limitation  or  res- 
ervation, the  right  of  commercial  intercourse  by  land  or  in- 
land navigation  with  all  tlie  territories  of  the  rnited  States 
on  the  continent  of  America,  the  Governor  of  Louisiana  has 
thought  projicr  to  exclude  them  from  the  commerce  of  that  c:v- 
teiisire  province,  unless  they  abjure  their  allegiance  to  his 
Majesty,  and  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States ; 
ami  the  same  fJovernor  has  also  taken  it  upon  him  to  pro- 
hibit the  introduction  of  any  gooils  or  merchandise  which 
are  not  the  property  of  citizens  of  the  United  States." 

"This  arbitrary  proceeding,  besides  being  a  direct  viola- 
tion Q\'i\w  treaty  of  179-1,  is  hi^'hly  detrimental  to  the  private 
interest  of  the  Canada  merchants,  for  it  excludes  them  from 
ii  country  where  tln^y  liavc^  been  carrying  on  trade  success- 
fully  for  many  years  without  interruption  from  the  Spaniards, 
having  latterly  pushed  their  commercial  posts  even  to  the 
Itanks  of  the  Misfouri,  and  augmented  the  s.ale  of  their 
goods  in  Louisiana  to  the  amount  of  about  forty  or  fifty 
thousand  pounds  annually." 

This  is  the  compluinl — exclusioii  from  Louisiana 


by  the  United  States  Governor  of  that  Province. 
We  took  possession  of  Upper  Louisiana  in  March, 
1804;  the  complaint  was  made  in  London  in  IriOG; 
conserpiently,  the  exclusion  was  enforced  very 
soon  after  we  took  tiosseasion.  The  question  now 
is,  upon  what  authority  did  the  Governor  act  in 
making  this  exclusion,  and  to  what  line  did  he  ex- 
tend it?  r)oubtlcs.H  by  order  of  his  own  Govern- 
ment; but  it  in  K"od  to  be  certain;  and  in  the  caae 
of  Mr.  Greennow's  overshadowing  authority, 
backed  as  it  is  by  the  Senator  (Vom  Michij^an,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  prove  everything,  even  that 
a  Governor  of  Upper  Louisiana  had  the  authority 
of  his  Government  for  the  boundaries  of  his  Prov- 
ince, fortunately,  the  first  Governor  of  Upper 
Louisiana  was  a  man  of  letters  as  well  an  or  the 
sword,  and  employed  his  leisure  hours  in  drawing 
up  a  history  of  the  country  which  he  waa  sent  to 
govern.  It  was  Major  Amos  Stoddard,  who  after- 
wards lost  Ilia  life  at  Fort  Meigs  during  the  late 
war  with  Great  Britain,  (n  his  useful  work, 
modestly  termed  "  Skitehes  of  fjiuisiana,"  he  thu« 
speaks  of  the  northern  boundary  of  his  Prov- 
ince: 

"  The  eommerce  of  Cror.nt,  by  the  terms  of  the  patenl, 
extended  to  the  utmost  limit  of  Louisiana  in  that  <piarter; 
which,  by  the  treaty  of  Uuecht  in  17i;i,  won  fixed  at  the 
49Ui  degree." 

This  is  Major  Stoddard's  account  of  this  north- 
ern boundary,  and  of  the  line  from  which  and  by 
which  he  excluded  British  traders  from  Louisiana. 
He  did  it  by  virtue  of  the  line  of  Utrecht;  and  no 
British  Minister  in  that  day  did  or  would  deny  its 
existence,  or  impugn  its  validity.  Lords  Holland 
and  Aukland,  to  whom  the  complaint  of  the  Cana- 
dian merchants  was  made,  refused  to  present  it 
officially  to  our  Ministers.  They  do  not,  in  fact, 
appear  to  have  spoken  a  word  on  the  subject,  or 
done  anything  more  than  present  their  memorial 
to  our  MinLstera.  Certain  it  is,  the  complaint  re- 
mained without  redress. 

But  the  efforts  of  the  British  fur  traders  did  not 
stop  at  this  repulse.  The  next  year  the  Earl  of 
Selkirk,  head  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  went 
to  London  to  renew  the  complaints  of  the  fur 
traders  in  a  more  formal  manner,  and  to  claim 
their  restoration  to  the  privileges  of  trade  within 
the  limits  of  Louisiana.  That  gentleman,  as  head 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company— as  founder  of  the 
colony  on  Lake  Winipec — as  the  perion  most  in- 
jured by  the  exclusion  of  British  tradsrs  from 
Louisiana — ought  to  knov/  something  about  his 
own  rights  and  wrongs;  and  in  bringing  these  be- 
fore the  British  Ministry  for  redress,  ought  to  be 
supposed  to  state  his  case  as  strcn^ly  as  truth  and 
justice  will  allow.  He  does  so;  but  not  strongly 
enough  to  deny  the  fact  of  the  line  of  49°  under 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  That  liite  was  doing  him 
all  the  mischief :  the  short  remedy  was  to  deny  its 
existence,  if  it  could  be  denied.  On  the  contrary, 
he  admits  the  fact  of  former  existence,  and  only 
argue.«  against  present  existence,  and  present  ap- 
plicability. His  argument  is,  first,  that  the  treaty 
of  Utredit  was  not  revived  by  tlie  treaty  of  Amiens, 
of  1801;  and,  therefore,  that  it  was  abrogated  by 
war;  and,  secondly,  that  the  long  occupation  of  the 
St.  Peter's  river,  and  of  the  Missouri  above  the 
Manciun  villages,  without  objection  from  the  Span- 
iards, was  an  admission  of  their  rieht  to  traoe  in 
Louisiana,  and  should  be  conclusiveupon  the  Uni- 


8 


lul  RwlrH.  In  n  mrrtiorinl  to  Lord  Hollnnd,  in 
1807,  ho.  |tn«oiitn  ihcwr  vicwM  iii  miifli  Icnijth,  nnd 
KURtuiim  thcni  hy  iirjjunicnis  of  wliidi  thtuc  iirc 
NjmcimcnH: 

"  t/n(l<riitiiiiiIlnKtlmt  yoiinrniit  prenont  cngngril  in  KPttlliiK 
with  tlic  AiiiiTlfiui  l>li'ni|M>()'iitinrlc'H  the  hoiiiiiliirli'M  ItPlwrru 
111!'  provlnrn  nl'  l.oiilNiiiiin  iiiiil  thi^  llrltluli  AiiH'rlcnti  iliiiiilii- 
miiH,  (  bi'ii  li'iivii  ti)  ciill  yiiiir  ntti'iitiiiri  to  koiih'  hiikkckiIdiim. 
*  '  •  'I'o  lli(!  ii|i|M'r  piut  iil'MJNii(iiir(,  IlriUiln  liiw  II  (ircl- 
nrnblrt  cliiiiii.  AlMini  IntlliiilM  47,  thti  llrltir'li  trmliTH,  cohiIiib 
hi  (Vn.n  111.  If!ii|.«)ii  Hiiy  t^rrltiirira,  maliitiiltifi)  ;i  ir.Mr  ulth 
(111!  Miiiilnii  IikJIiiiih,  TIi'-hc!  trniliTi  witc  tli>' flr-it  KiiropcmiH 
who  iihlniiK-il  /iriy  kiiowlrilKi'  ol'lhi!  xoiirniiorihi'  MinMoiirl, 
■ml  thi!y  hail  laid  down  Ihc  rourMc  of  llmt  rlviT  t'roiii  Ihc 
Miiiiiliiiiii  up  to  thi'  Hoi  ky  Moiintnlim,  with  Hd-nl  iiilimti)- 
iK'Mn,  iimnv  yi'nrn  iHflbrr  tlio  Joiiriii'y  of  Mt'«"r«,  r.i'WiH  anil 
Clnrkfl.  Till)  t'laim  olOnat  llrluilii  to  thir  IJpp.'r  Ml^miurl 
country  in  uipially  vullil,  iiiiil  ri'HiH  on  tin;  Naiiii'  Kroinnl  an 
her  I'lairn  to  IVooika  Hoiiml  ami  tliii  roimtry  wihi  of  llif 
Roiiky  MoiuilahiHj  nn  tlin  IVIIlc  oi-i'iiii.  •  *  •  TliiTr 
an-  aliiinilani-i!  ot  Kroiinilit  for  iliMiyiiii(  that  thi'ri'  nrr  any 
rights  in  tliu  AniiTiciiii  <iov(riiini'nt  tu  I'ounil  it.i  I'laiiii  on  thn 
stipulationMoftlii' tnaly  of  UiriTht.  •  *  *  Tlin  Hilpiila- 
tionH  of  th«!  triiitv  of  IJufcht,  iih  to  tlin  llniitx  of  tint  fJu.l'^on 
Hay  tcrrltorli-H,  i(o  not  hrar  at  all  upcni  tlii'  iiui'-tioii.  Tim 
llinitM  flxid  hy  that  tri'iity  wuri!  for  Canaila,  not  liOiiiNianii. 
*  •  *  Allow  nio  only  brlrlly  to  oIwitvi'  that  tin-  tri-nty  of 
Utrei'ht,  not  having  hern  rcnewi'il  at  th<'  praci.  of  Ainiiun, 
woulil  not  liavu  Iiim'u  availahli!  i-vimi  to  Tranrf,  if  hIid  hail 
ri'inainuil  ut  pi>aci!  with  iih  uml  in  pinHiHHionol' Louisiana." 

Thus  orgucs  the  Earl  of  Selkirk,  mhiiitting  the 
fact  of  boundariea  fixed  under  (he  treaty  of  Utreidit, 
nnd  only  arguiiijif  a^'ainst  the  present  exiHtenee  and 
applicability  of  these  boundaries.  Lord  Holland 
adopted  none  of  these  vicw.s;  he  presented  the  pa- 
per, without  comment,  to  tlie  American  Ministers, 
■who,  in  sending  it  home  to  their  Government, 
characterized  it  as  an  ''hlle paper,"  am\  took  no 
further  notice  of  it.  It  wa.s,  in  fact,  im  i.ilc  pa])er, 
but  not  quite  idle  enou^^h,  in  any  sense  of  the  word, 
to  deny  the  work  of  tlic  commissaries  under  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht. 

But  to  go  on  with  the  proofs. 
I  In  the  year  1805,  being  the  second  year  after  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana,  President  JeH'eison  sent 
Ministers  to  Madrid ,  (Messrs.  Monroe  and  Charles 
Pinckney,)  to  adjust  the  eastern  and  southwestern 
boundaries  with  Iter;  and,  in  doing  so,  the  princi- 
ples which  had  governed  the  sottlemcut  J)f  the 
northerii  boundary  of  the  same  province  became  a 
proper  illut'tration  of  their  ideas.  They  quoted 
these  principles,  and  gave  the  line  of  Utrecht  as 
the  example;  and  thisto  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  one 
of  the  most  accoinpliahed  statesmen  of  Europe. 
They  say  to  him: 

«'It  is  believed  that  this  principle  hat  brcii  admitted  and 
acted  on  i;ivariably  since  tlin  iliscoviTy  of  Anii'ricn,  in  re- 
spect to  their  pos.wssionH  tlieri!,  by  all  t'lc  Kuropoan  I'ower.i. 
It  is  particularly  illiistrati:d  by  the  stipulatio-is  of  tin.'ir  most 
important  treaties  conccinini,'  those  possessions,  and  tin; 
practice  under  them,  viz:  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  I7i;i,  and 
that  of  Paris  in  1763.  In  conforniity  with  the  lOth  artirle  ol' 
the  first-mentioned  treaty,  tlie  boundary  liet\K!en  t'uni'.da 
nnd  Louisiana  on  Of/i  one  side,  and  th.'  Hudson  li.xy  and 
Northwestern  Conifmnies  on  the  other,  was  establislied  by 
commissaries,  by  a  line  to  coiiiinerice  at  n  cape  or  pinnion- 
tory  on  the  ocean,  in  .W  31'  north  latitude  ;  to  run  tlieiicc, 
southwestwardly,  to  latitude  49'  north  from  the  eipiatnr; 
and  along  that  line  indetinitely  westward.  Since  that  time, 
no  attempt  has  been  made  to  extend  ttn;  limits  of  Louisiana 
or  Canada  to  the  nortli  of  that  line,  or  of  those  companies  to 
the  soulh  of  it,  by  purchase,  conquest,  or  grants  from  the 
Indians." 

This  is  whatMea.^rs.  Monroe  and  Charlcsi  Pinck- 
ney said  to  Don  Pedro  Cevallos— a  Minister  who 
must  be  supposed  to  be  as  well  acquainted  with 
•the  treaties  which  settled  the  boundaries  of  the  late 
Spanish  province  of  Louisiana  as  wc  are  with  the 


timtirs  which  «ntile  the  boundaries  of  tho  Unilml 
HtntcH.  The  line  of  Utrecht, nnd  in  the  very  wnrdi 
which  carry  if  Crinii  the  Lake  of  the  VVooiIh  to  the 
Pacific  ocean, and  whiih  confine  tin;  Uritiwh  to  the 
north,  and  the  rrench  and  Hpiinish  to  the  Hoiitli 
of  that  line,  are  qunted  to  Mr.  Cevallos  as  a  fiict 
whii  h  he  and  all  the  world  knew.  lie  received  it 
ns  Hiicli;  and  thii.H  SpnniMh  .lulhorily  comes  in  nid 
of  Hritish,  French,  nnd  American,  to  vindicmo  our 
lights  nnd  the  tiuth  of  history. 

Mr.  President,  when  a  man  is  Hiruggling  in  a 
just  cause,  he  pjiierally  gets  help,  nnd  often  fVoin 
iinforcHeen  and  unexpected  quarter.s.  So  it  has  hap- 
pened with  nie  in  this  alKiir  of  the  Utrecht  treaty. 
A  great  nriany  hands  have  hastened  to  bear  evi- 
dence of  tho  truth  in  this  case;  nnd,  at  the  heati  oi 
these  o|)portMiie  testimonies,  I  place  the  letter  of  a 
gentleman  who,  besides  his  own  gn  at  niilhority, 
give.s  a  reference  to  another,  who,  from  his  long 
political  position  in  our  country,  the  powers  of  his 
mind,  and  the  habits  of  his  lift!,  happens  to  be,  of 
all  living  men,  the  one  who  can  shed  inost  light 
upon  the  subject.  I  sjieak  of  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering — the  friend  and  cnmpai.ion  nf  Washing- 
ton—his Cluartermaster-General  during  the  war  of 
the  IlevoUilion — his  Postmaster  GenemI,  Secretary 
of  War,  and  Secretary  of  State,  during  his  Presi- 
dency,— a  member  of  this  body  at  tho  time  tho 
treaty  was  ratified  which  made  us  a  party  to  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht — and  always  a  man  to  con'-idcr 
and  to  understand  what  he  was  about.  In  /act, 
Washiniiton  wanted  no  other  sort  of  men  about 
him.  The  writer  of  the  letter,  (Timothy  Pitkin, 
author  of  the  work  on  Statistics,)  on  reading  some 
account  of  the  talk  hereabout  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
and  seeing  what  lack  of  information  was  in  the 
American  Senate,  wrote  a  letter  to  a  member  of 
this  body  [Mr.  Webster]  to  give  him  his  memo- 
randa of  that  treaty  some  forty  j'cars  ago.  This 
letter  i.s  an  hivaluablc  testimony  of  the  events  to 
which  it  relates;  it  combines  the  testimony  of  two 
eminent  men;  and  I  send  it  to  the  Secretary's  table 
to  be  read.  It  is  dated  Utica,  New  York,  April  9, 
184G: 

"  I  perceive,  liy  tho  debates  in  the  Senato  on  the  Oregon 
question,  that,  in  the  di'eision  of  this  iiiipurlaiit  subject,  no 
little  stress  is  laid  by  some  of  its  inembi;rs  o.i  thi!  line  set- 
tled between  I'lanec  and  Kns;land,  under  the  treaty  of 
Utreelit,  in  1713,  and  that  by  others  it  is  lontended  that  no 
evidence  actually  exists  that  such  a  settloniunt  was  made 
under  that  treaty. 

"  I  was  somewhat  surprised  that  General  Cass  should 
have  ventured,  in  a  public  speceli,  to  havi-  plaeed  himself 
amoiii?  the  latti'r,  upon  the  statements  of  Mr.  (.'iienhow,  a 
clerk  in  the  Department  of  State.  I  have,  for  a  Ioiik  time, 
considered  that  this  line  was  adiusted  by  commisBaries  ap- 
pointed under  that  treaty;  and  in  reading  tho  speeches  of 
Messrs.  I'ass  and  llenton,  and  your  own  si->mfirnvt  ipi-cytiona 
on  the  subject,  f  thought  proper  to  examine  my  doeumonts 
and  ini'iiioraiidiims  for  some  proof  of  the  opinion  f  had  thus 
formed.  On  such  e.vamiiiatiim,  1  found  the  follnwins;  ex- 
tr.-iet  on  this  subject,  from  Mr.  Ilutohins's  'llislorieal  ,\ar- 
ruti  v(!  and  Topocraphical  Ileseriptiou  of  Louisiana  and  W'csi 
Florida,'  printed  at  Philadelphia  in  1781. 

"After  si.ntin;,'  the  uraiit  to  Crozat,  of  Louisiana,  [Iiiteh- 
ins,  who  was  then.  I  believe,  i,'eoi>iopher  to  the  ITnited 
States,  proceeds  to  say :  ' .Vs  to  Canada,  or  Now  Fiaiiei ,  die 
'  French  Court  would  scarcely  admit  it  had  any  other  nortli- 
'  ern  boundary  than  the  pole.  Tlio  avidity  of  Gri.'at  Diit.ain 
<  was  cipial ;  but  Franci',  h.iviuf.'  been  niifortimate  in  tho 
'war  of  1710,  the  northern  boiindarv  of  Canada  wils  fixed 
'  by  the  trcjily  of  Ulnu.ht  in  17i;).  ft  assigns  Nem  Jhilain 
'ami  Jiwhon's  Say,  on  the  Jior<A  o/' t'anm.',;,  to  (heat  Brit- 
'aiii;  and  commissioners  afterwards,  on  both  sides,  iK/.cr- 
'faiiird  the  Imifs,  by  an  imiwinary  line  running'  from  a  citjie 
'  or /iromoii/on/ in  New  Britain,  on  the  Atlantic  ocean,  in  filly- 
'  eight  decrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude ;  thou  suuUiwlsI 


s. 


A 


9 


L 


'  to  titp  I.brc  MixKiuInc,  nr  Mi^lnmln  i  fWim  llicnrp  ftirfhcr 
>»«HtUwi'HiUrfit\i>thi-  l.iilliiili' or  |i>rty  Mill)-  ili  gn  cw.     All 

'Uf  liiiiiN  III  III!'  iinilt>  of  ilir  hiiii|(liiiiry  lll|i>  li<  liiu  lurlv | 

'to  fir.  lit  llnliilii,  iiikI  all  nunilHi  ant  oI' Hint  llni',  lii  iifdir  iih 
Mtlf   rlviT  HI.    Iiiiwrfiii'i',  Ik  iIm'   Kti'iirli.     'I'Iiimi.  vviti',  lit 
•Hint  timi','  Ik'iiiIiIh,  'llic  >rii<'  lliiilii  ■■'■•    iiIhIiiiiii  imil  Cun 
•itilii,  Crornt'M  grunt  not  iiuMiilii|r  long  nltiir  tliu  dintli  oC 
■  J.oiiU  \IV,' 

"  'I'lii'  iilinvc  I'xtrnct  !■<  trikrn  Crdrn  n  |iini{  roiniiiiinlfiitinn 
riiiuli'  to  Mr,  Ji'rtir  ii.,,  Iiy  I'nloiii'l  I'IckirliiK,  on  tin-  1hi|i  .if 
Jiuiiiiirv,  |f(M,  whfn  tln'  tn-iily  of  Mr.  Kliiu!,  nnil  of  liminil 
nri<'«,  wiw  iinilir  (■oiiNiili'riillon  ;  iinil  of  i'oiir<iMirti'r  our  piir 
ilm«t<  of  liiMilxiiiiiii.     I  iiri'Knini',  tlnnforc,  It  in  corn  it, 
thiMiKli  rcliillvi'  to  KiiiK'H  tn'iilv  soni"'  illllrrcnn'  of  opinion 
pxi'lfrt  hi'lwfin  JilIiTHon  iiniirirkirlnu.     I  Iiiivh  lurii  iiii 
nhlf,  In  ihU  iiliur,  to  Imvo  hvi-vhh  Io  iIiIh  work  of  niitcliliiM ; 
It  wiiH,  no  iliiiilii,  will  known  to  Mr.  Ji'tll-rHon. 

"  I  Hill  not  iilili!  to  inliM'in  yon  whmlii'r  lif  iinHWPri'd,  in 
wrillnif,  iIki  iiliovi!  roniiniinii'iillon  of  Colonel  rirkirinif  i 
lint  from  IiIh  (|i'rliiriilloii«  niiiilr  to  nic  anil  othrrx,  on  tlir  -Jkl 
of  January,  IHINI,  Im  Umn  Oijiy  hriirvi'tl  tlilx  llni' to  jiuvu 
Ih'iii  tliiiH  Hculcd,  ill  iiiirHiiaiii'i'  iiftlir  tn^alv  of  I'tri'ilit. 

"  Allliiit  tinii',  I'oiivi'rHinK  with  ini-nml  othcrM,  at  aillniii-r 
partv,oM(lM(livorilc,^nliJiitofl,<'wl-<aii<l('hirk<''Hrx|icilitioii 
to  Ihi'  I'aiilir,  he  ilrrlariil,  (Hci'onlliiK  lo  my  nii'moraiKluiii 
inailc  at  lln-  tiiiiM,)  >  That  liv  the  treaty  of  I'tPMlit,  in  171;), 
'  lirtwcrn  tlic  KiiBJIdi  anil  r'Vcnrli,  tlic  llni'  lirtwnn  I,onti.i 
•anil  anil  ilir   i;n«li>li  I'onntrv  wa<  Kclllnl  in  latitinl.' •!!»';  I 
•anil  that  iIiIn  wax  th«i  nason  wliv,  in  our  tri'alv  with  tin-  ' 
'  Kn«ll.><n,  111  l7Kt,  our  northrrii  lionnilary  w:n  iiluoi'd  'it  the  ' 
'  l.aki'  of  the  VVooiIh,  which  waH  in  latiuiilc  Vr.' 

"  Not  havinu  Hcrn  HiitcliiiiH  mi'iitloncil,  or  rt-fcrrnl  to  In 
thin  ilibalc,  I  have  liciin  iiiihiccd  to  niinl  you  lliii  extract 
fnnn  lilin,  anil  al-<o  my  uliovc  mcinoraniliini,  to  hriiiu'  the 
H!imi!  to  your  notice  and  recollection,  (ualeat quantum  valere 
])oteat.)" 

Tlii.i  i.t  tlip  Irttor  of  Mr.  Pitkin,  witli  llio  pxtracts 
from  Mr.  Pickcriiis;.  Ills  not  the  iccollection  of 
nil  old  nmn,  l)iit  the  wr'ltcn  down  nccoiint  of  wliat 
he  s;uv  ftiid  knew  forty  years  n!i;o,  and  written 
down  at  the  time  he  saw  it  and  knew  it.  It  in  full 
and  coniiilcte  to  the  point  in  qneslion.  The  refer- 
ence to  Hutchins's  Elisloriml  Narrative, and  Topo- 
grnphical  Description  of  LoniHiana,  is  correct.  The 
worlc  is  not  in  onr  lil)rary,  lait  Hcveral  friends  have 
Rent  me  copies  of  it  from  dilTerent  parts  of  the  Uni- 
ted State ■(,  and,  on  comparison,  I  find  Mr.  Picker- 
in!,''s  extract  lo  be  correct  to  a  letter.  Tlio  refei- 
encc  of  Mr.  Pitkin  to  what  passed,  in  his  presence, 
at  Mr.  Jelfers  )n'.s  table,  in  ISOf!,  in  relation  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  recalls  a  (iict  which  oii;;ht  to 
be  tnii2;ht  in  the  .schools,  to  the  little  yrirls,  in' their 
tiny  geographies,  instead  of  being  disputed  by 
bearded  men  in  the  American  Senate.  That  lake, 
for  a  hundred  .md  tliirty  years,  has  been  a  land- 
mark among  nations;  for  more  than  sixty  years — 
from  the  date  of  our  national  existence — it  has  been 


a  prominent  mark  in  our  national  boundaries.  The 
treaty  of  Utrecht  made  it  so;  and  ho  that  does  not 
know^his  great  liistorioal  incident  may  find  it  out 
by  tasting  the  intellectual  cruml)  which  fell  from 
Mr.  .TelTerson'.s  table  in  180(5,  and  which  Mr.  Pit- 
kin lins  preserved  for  a  feast  tliis  day  in  the  Ameri- 
can Senate.  Mr.  Jeflerson'.s  table  was  one  at 
which  something  else  besides  the  body  was  fed.  I 
was  never  at  it  but  once,  and  then  I  sat  there  five 
hours,  not  for  the  Burgundy,  which  was,  in  fact — 
what  a  certain  American  Minister  s.iid  of  the  King 
of  Portugal's  dinner—"  excellent,"  but  for  the  con" 
versation,  wliich  was  divine.  And  now  I  will  say 
that  I  saw  Mr.  Pickering  once,  and  under  circum- 
stances to  remember  him  also.  It  was  at  the  extra 
session  of  Congress,  in  1813— he  a  member  of  tlie 
House  of  Representatives,  I  a  looker-on  from  tlie 
hot  and  siiirocatinj  gallery,  better  ])aid  for  my  suf- 
feranco  than  those  who  are  listening  to  mc  now. 
I  saw  an  tiged  man,  alw.iys  in  hi.s  scat,  alwaya  at- 


tentive, alwayi  rrsprclfnl.  The  drcoriim  of  his 
conduct  Ntruck  me;  I  inquired  hiN  name;  it  turned 
out  to  be  one  who  had  been  formed  in  the  Nchool 
of  Wi'Hhinfjton,  of  whom  I  knew  but  little  up  to 
that  lime  but  ihrough  the  medium  of  [inrty  watch- 
words,  and  of  whom  1  then  naid,  that,  I'f  eve.itH 
.should  over  make  me  ii  member  of  CongresH,  I 
Nhoiild  love  lo  imiinte  the  decorum. 

The  line  of  Utrecht  i.s  termed,  by  Mr.  Pickering, 
an  "imn«-imirt/"  line.  Thai  is  correct.  It  was 
never  run,  nor  intended  to  be  run,  nor  possildc  to 
l)e  riin.  The  treaty  reriuired  it  to  be  "  tlrli,miueil; "' 
and  it  wa.s  delermined  by  astronomical  noiiits  ami 
lines  and  by  geographical  foHturcs--the  fiiuli  land.^ 
parting  two  HysteniH  of  waters— those  of  F  IikInoii  '« 
Hay  and  th.ise  of  the  Canadian  Lakes.  And  liere 
I  will  say  that  there  were  two  sets  of  boiinilaries  to 
bo  eHlabfiNhed  under  thiN  same  treaty  of  Utrecht: 
one  on  the  north  of  Canada,  which  was  done  as 
statitd  within  the  year  limited;  the  other  on  the 
south  of  Canada,  between  Acadia  nnd  the  Ifritish 
colonies  on  the  Atlantic,  for  which  no  time  waa 
limited,  and  which  was  never  done.  Confounding 
these  two  sets  of  boundarieH,  one  of  wliich  was 
determined  and  the  other  not,  may  have  led  soino 
minds  into  error—those  minds  which  cannot  apply 
words  til  things. 

Mr.  Pitkin,  in  this  letter,  f.neaks  of  a  long  com- 
munication made  I. V  Colonel  Pickering  on  theldth 
of  January,  180^,  to  Mr,  Jcirerson,  when  the  trea- 
ty of  Mr.  King  was  under  consideration,  and  after 
the  purciia.se  of  Louisiana.  Without  doubt  that 
wa.s  the  identical  paper  trauamitted  by  Mr,  Madi- 
son to  Mr,  Monroe,  with  his  official  despatch  to 
that  Minister  of  Februt\ry  14,  1804,  as  "a  paper 
'  slating  the  aulhnnhj  on  uflticU  the  ikcision  of  the 
'  cnmmissioners  under  the  treuly  of  Utrecht  resti,  iind 
'  the  reasoning  opposed  to  the  cvnatniction  making  the 
'  fJth  degree  of  lalititdt  the  northern  boundanjofl.ou- 
'  isiana,"  1  mentioned  that  paper  once  before, 
when  it  was  pretty  well  cried  down  by  the  Sena- 
tor from  Michigan,  [Mr,  C.tss.]     I  mention  it  now 


O '    \_~-  -  •  •     ---'•■-■'•J  •      ■(•'.'•••ii->>    su    aiv^TT 

again,  under  better  auspices,  and  with  hopes  of 
better  results.  The  author  is  found,  and  found 
where  he  ought  to  be,  among  those  who  feared  the 
effect  of  rejecting  the  fifth  article  of  Mr.  Rufus 
King's  treaty  of  180,3,  That  treaty  settled  our 
whole  northern  boundary  with  Great  Britain,  from 
Passainaquoddy  Bay  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
and  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi  The  fifth  ar- 
ticle of  it  brought  the  line  from  the  lake,  by  the 
.shortest  course,  to  the  Mississippi:  it  closed  up  the 
long-standing  controversy  about  the  course  of  that 
line.  Now,  it  happened  that  the  treaty  for  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  was  negotiated  in  Paris 
aliout  the  same  time  that  Mr,  King's  treaty  was 
negotiated  in  London,  and  without  his  knowledge. 
The  two  treaties  arrived  in  the  United  States  to- 
gether—went to  the  Senate  together,  with  a  strong 
recommendation  from  Mr,  Jetlerson  to  reject  the 
fifth  article  of  Mr.  King's  treaty,  because  the  ac- 
quisition of  Louisiana  gave  us  u  new  hne  from  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  which  would  run  clear  north 
of  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  preventing  the 
British  from  getting  to  the  river,  and  thereby  ren- 
dering nugatory  the  treaty  stipulations  of  1783  and 
1794  whicligave  them  a  right  to  its  navigation. 

The  maintenance  of  this  new  line,  which  was 
not  only  to  protect  the  Mississippi  river,  but  all 
Louisiana,  from  Britiah  ingrossion,  was  a  priuiaiy 


10 


ol;ject  of  Mr.  JeffiTson;  and  for  that  purpose  the 
rejection  of  thj  fifth  article  of  Mr.  Khig's  treaty 
became  indispensable.     The  New  England  Sena'- 
tors  dreaded  the  loss  of  the  whole  treaiy  if  the  fifih 
artisle  was  expunged:  nine  of  them  voted  again.^it 
the  St  iking  out;  and  it  was  while  this  treaty  was 
under  consideration  in  the  Senate  that  Mr.  Picker- 
ing, one  of  the  nine,  communiciited  this  paper  to 
Mr.  Jefierson,  not  at  all  denying  the  49th  parallel 
as  the  line  of  Utrecht,  but  arguing  ngain.«t  the  con- 
struction which  would  now  make  that  line  the 
•  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana.     The  tenor  of 
his  argument  is  not  given;  possibly  the  Earl  of 
Selk'rk  fell  upon  som^J  parts  of  it  in  his  memoricil 
to  Lord  Holland,  wlien  he  supposed  it  to  be  abro- 
gated by  war,  and  superseded  by  the  connivance 
of  the  Spaniards,  in  permitting  the  British  to  oc- 
cupy thewhok  teft  flank  of  Lou'siana,  as  low  down 
iii  places  as  45°.   Mr.  JelTerson  adhered  to  his  new 
hne.   Tiie  fifth  article  was  struck  out.    The  whole 
treaty  was  risked  and  lost,  and  it  was  forty  years 
afterwards,  and  we  a?'  know  with  what  angry  dis- 
cussions, with  what  dangers  of  war,  with  what  ex- 
pense of  money  in  calling  out  troops,  this  long 
contested  boundary  was  at  last  established.     All 
ims  was  risked,  all  this  was  encountered  to  save 
the  une  of  Utrecht !    Yet  we  now  find  that  line  de- 
nied, and  ail  the  organs,  great  and  small,  blowing 
with  might  and  main  to  sweil  the  loud  note.':  of 
denial,  and  to  drawrx  the  voice  which  speaks  up 
lor  the  truth. 

Several  copies  of  Hutchins's  geographical  work 
have  bean  sent  to  me,  all  containing  the  words 
transcribed  by  Mr.  Pickering.  Other  works  also 
have  been  sent  me.  I  have  more  material  on  hand 
than  I  can  use,  and  must  limit  myself  to  a  brief 
selection.  Among  these  books  sent  me  is  one  of 
special  author=ty— the  geographical  work  of  Thom- 
as Jeffreys,  Esq.,  Geographer  to  his  Royal  High- 
ness the  Prin-e  of  Wales,  printed  at  the  corner  of 
'^t- Maritm's  Lane,  near  Chaiing  Cross,  London, 
A.  D.  17oa.  Tliis  roya":  gsrgrapher,  who  would 
naidly  curtail  the  fair  proportions  of  the  dominions 
to  whose  heir  apparent  (afterwards  George  111.)  he 
was:  addressing  his  work,  thus  speaks  of  the  line 
which  parts  the  British  Hudson  Bay  and  the 
French  Canadian  possessions; 

"  Beginning  at  Davis's  Inlet,  on  the  east  const  of  Labra- 
dor or  New  Britain,  m  l!.-  laHtiido  of  about  5fi  deerfips,  and 
i'^^TA",?  '.*  ^''"'  '^  '^"■'"-  throuifli  the  Lalte  Aliitibis.  down  to 
the  49th  degree  of  latitude ;  from  thcnen  to  be  eontiniud  to 
the  Nortluves*  ocean,  as  it  was  settled  by  coi.imissioiic-s 
under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht." 

Mr.  .Teffreys  adds  to  this  description  of  the  line  of 


Utrecht,  remarks  upon  the  same  line  as  laid  down 
by  D'Anville,  the  Royal  French  Geographer,  points 
out  what  he  deems  erroneaus  in  it.  and  takes  credit 
to  himself  in  making  it  more  favorable  to  the 
French  than  the  French  haU  made  it  to  themselv(?s. 
The  latitude  of  49  to  the  Western  Ocean  Is  his  limit 
of  the  British  possessions. 

I  have  said  that  more  material  has  beei,  furnish- 
ed to  me  than  I  can  upe.  Among  these  I  must 
acKnowledge  che  kindness  of  Mr.  Edmund  J.  Fors- 
tall^of  New  Orleansi,  a  man  of  letters,  and  who 
=enus  me  a  reference  tc  Postiethwuyl's  Couitner- 
cial  Dictionary,  whi<:h,  in  fact,  is  the  dictionary 
of  Savary,  Inspector  Generol  of  Vrench  Manu- 
foctures  and  Commrrce  in  the  time  of  Louis  the 
Fifteenth,  and  whoso  work  was  done  into  English, 
wiUiimproveaicnts.byM.-.  Malachy  Postl-  thwayt, 


whose  name  it  bears  with  English  readeis.  This 
dictionary  of  Savary  contains,  in  the  body  of  the 
worl^  the  description  of  the  Ufrecht  line  as  shown 
on  the  maps,  and  thus  gives  authority  for  what 
appears  there. 

Another  contribution ,  rvhich  I  have  pleasure  to 
acknowledge,  is  from  agentleman  of  Baltimore,  for- 
merly of  the  House  of  Representatives,  (Mr.  Ken- 
ned v,)  who  gives  me  an  extract  from  the  Journal  of 
the  British  House  of  Commons,  March  5th,  1714, 
directing  a  writ  to  be  issued  for  electing  a  burgess  in 
the  place  of  Frederick  Heme,  Esq.,  who,  since  his 
election,  hath  accepted,  as  the  Journalsays,  the  office 
of  one  of  his  Majesty's  commissaries  for  treating 
with  commissaries  on  t!ie  nart  of  France  for  settling 
the  trade  between  Great  Britain  and  France.    The 
same  entry  occurs  .t  the  same  time  with  respect 
to  James  Murray,  Esq.,  and  Sir  Joseph  Martyn. 
The  tenth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  apjilies  to 
limits  m  North  America,  the  eleventh  and  fifteenth 
to  commerce;  and  these  commissaries  were  ap- 
pointed under  some  or  ali  of  these  articles.    Others 
might  have  been  appointed  by  iiffi  King,  and  not 
mentioned  in  the  journals,  as  not  being  members 
of  Parham^ent  whose  vacated  seats  were  to  be.  filled. 
AH  three  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  were  equally 
obligatory  for  the  appoiniment  of  commissaries; 
and  here  is  proof  that  three  were  appointed  under 
the  commercial  articles. 

One  motv  j)iece  of  testimony,  and  I  have  done. 
And,  first,  a  little  statement  to  introduce  it.  We 
all  know  that  in  one  of  the  debates  which  took 
place  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  on  the 
Ashburton  treaty,  and  after  that  treaty  was  ratified 
and  past  recall,  mention  was  made  of  a  certain  map 
called  the  King's  map,  which  had  belonged  to  the 
late  King,  (George  III.,)  and  hung  in  his  library 
during  his  lifetime,  and  afterwards  in  the  Foreign 
Office,  from  which  said  office  the  said  map  silently 
disappeared  about  the  time  of  the  Ashburton 
treaty,  and  which  certainly  was  not  before  our 
Senate  at  the  time  of  the  ratificiition  of  that  treaty. 
Well,  the  member  who  mentioned  it  in  Parliament 
said  there  vms  a  stro-ig  red  line  upon  it,  about  the 
tenth  of  an  inch  wide,  running  all  along  where  the 
Americans,  said  the  true  boundary  was,  with  these 
words  written  along  it  in  four  places  in  King 
George's  handwriting:  "  This  is  Osicald's  line;" 
meaning,  it  is  the  line  of  the  treaty  of  peace  ne- 
gotiated by  Mr.  Oswald  on  the  British  side,  and 
therefore  called  Oswald's  line. 

Now,  what  I  have  to  say  is  this:  That  when-' 
ever  this  roy-.l  map  shall  emerge  from  its  retreat 
I  and  resume  its  place  in  the  Foreign  Office*  on  it 
1  will  be  found  another  strong  red' line  about  the 
tenth  of  an  inch  wide,  in  another  place,  v.ith  these 
words  written  on  it:  Boundaries  between  the  Brit- 
ish and  French  pos.^essions  in  America  "  as  fixed 
by  the  treaty  of  Utrctht."  To  complete  this  last  and 
crowning  piece  cf  testimony,  I  have  to  add  that 
the  evidence  of  it  is  in  the  Department  of  State,  as 
!s  nearly  the  whole  of  the  evidence  which  I  have 
used  in  crushing  this  fie-poudre  insurrection— 
"  this  puddlelnnc  rebellion"— as&mst  the  truth  nod 
ninjesty  of  history,  which,  beginning  with  a  clerk 
in  the  Department  of  State,  spread  to  all  the  or- 
gana,  big  imd  little;  then  reached  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  held  divided  empire  in  this  cham- 
ber for  four  months,  and  now  dies  the  death  of  the 
ridiculous. 


i 


II 


I  have  naw  got  to  the  end  of  the  errors  which  I 
propose  to  correct  at  the  present  time.  I  have 
consumed  the  day  in  getting  ready  to  speak — in 
clearing-  away  the  rubbiah  .vhich  had  been  piled 
up  in  my  path.  On  another  day,  if  the  Senate 
pleases,  I  will  go  to  work  on  the  Oregon  question, 
and  endeavor  to  show  how  far  we  shall  be  right,, 
and  how  far  we  may  be  wrong,  in  exercising  the 
jurisdiction  ^^^  sovereignty  which  this  bill  pro- 
poses (which  is  not  a  copy  of  the  British  act,  but 
goes  far  beyond  it)  ever  an  undefined  extent  of 
territory,  to  which  we  know  there  are  conflicting 
claims.  Light  upon  this  point,  at  this  time,  may 
be  of  service  to  our  country;  and  I  mean  to  di% 
charge  my  duty  to  her,  regardless  of  all  conse- 
quences to  myself. 

Mr.  B.  then  gave  way  to  a  motion  for  adjourn- 
ment. 


Monday,  May  25,  1846. 

Mr.  BENTON  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate 
as  follows: 

In  resuming  my  speech  on  this  subject,  I  wish 
to  say,  Mr.  President,  that  the  bill  now  before  the 
Senate  is  not  the  one  recommended  by  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.  He  recommended  that 
the  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  be  extended  to  our  Oregon  territory  to  the 
same  extent  that  Great  Britain  had  extended  her 
so\ereignty  and  jurisdiction  to  the  same  country. 
In  this  recommendation  I  fully  concur;  and  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that,  if  such  a  bill  was  brought  in ,  it 
might  pass  the  Senate  (leaving  out  unnecessary 
speeches)  in  as  little  time  as  it  would  require  to 
read  it  three  times  by  its  title.  But  the  bill  before 
the  Senate  is  not  of  that  character.  It  goes  far  be- 
yond the  President's  recommendation.  It  proposes 
many  things  not  found  in  the  British  act  of  1821 — 
things  implying  exclusive  jurisdiction  and  sover- 
eignty in  us,  and  that  to  an  undefined  extent  of 
country,  and  under  circumstances  which  must  im- 
mediately produce  hostile  collisions  between  our 
agents  and  the  British  agents  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  I  am  opposed  to  all  this; 
but  I  am  not  in  favor  of  the  indefinite  postpone- 
ment of  the  bill.  I  wish  to  see  it  amended  and 
made  conformable  to  the  President's  recommenda- 
tion. If  gentlemen  who  have  the  conduct  of  the 
measure  here  will  bring  iij  such  an  amendment, 
and  put  it  on  its  passage  without  speeches,  I  will 
stoi)  my  speech  until  it  is  passed. 

Twill  now  proceed  to  show,  as  well  as  I  can, 
the  degree  and  extent,  of  our  just  claims  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains. 

To  understand  what  I  mean  to  ?ay,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  recollect  the  geography  of  the  country  in 
question,  and  see  it  prcsencing,  as  it  does,  three 
disiinct  geographical  divisions,  to  each  of  which  a 
dilTcrent  claim  and  a  different  degree  of  claim  at- 
taches, and  which  cannot  be  confounded  under 
any  one  general  view,  without  a  general  mystifica- 
tion and  total  confusion  of  the  whole  subject.  The 
Coiurni)ici  river  and  its  valley  is  one  of  these  divis- 
ions; the  islands  along  the  coast  is  another;  Fra- 
zer's  river  and  its  valley  (called  by  the  British 
New  Caledonia)  is  the  third.  Under  these  three 
divisions  I  now  propose  to  speak  of  the  country. 
Under  these  divisions  I  have  always  spoken  of  it; 
and  what  I  have  said  of  one  part  had  no  applica- 


tion to  another.  When  I  spoke  of  the  great  river 
of  the  West  and  its  valley,  either  by  its  American 
name  of  Columbia  or  its  Indian  name  of  Oregon, 
I  never  intended  Frazer's  river  and  its  valley,  or 
Vancouver's  Island,  or  the  Gulf  of  Georgia,  or 
Desolation  Sound,  or  Broughton's  Arch.  When 
I  speak  of  the  coast  and  the  islands,  I  do  not  mean 
the  continent  and  the  mountains;  and  when  I 
speak  of  Frazer's  river  or  New  Caledonia,  I  do 
not  mean  the  Columbia  river.  I  repudiate  all  such 
loose  and  slovenly  verbiage;  and,  desiring  to  be 
understood  according  to  my  words,  I  go  on  to 
speak  of  the  country  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains 
under  the  three  great  geographical  divisions  into 
which  Nature  has  formed  it,  and  to  which  political 
events  have  so  naturally  adapted  themselves. 

I  begin  with  the  islands.  , 

From  the  Straits  of  Fuca  (in  fact  from  Puget'a 
Sound)  to  the  peninsula  of  Alaska — a  distance  of 
one  thousand  miles — there  is  a  net-work  of  islands 
— an  archipelago — some  large,  some  small,  check- 
ered in  together,  and  covering  the  coast  to  the 
extent  o*"  one,  two,  and  even  three  hundred  miles 
in  front  of  the  continent.  They  are  most  of  them 
of  volcanic  impression,  and  separated  from  each 
other  and  the  continent  by  deep  bays,  gulfs,  and 
straits,  and  by  long  deep  chasms,  to  which  navi- 
gators have  given  the  name  of  canals.  This  long 
checker-board  of  islands,  and  the  waters  which 
contain  them,  have  been  the  theatre  of  maritime 
discovery  to  many  n.itions,  and  especially  Span- 
ish, British,  and  Russian;  but,  except  the  Rus- 
sians, no  nation  made  permanent  settlements  on 
any  of  these  islands;  and  they  only  as  low  down  as 
latitude  55.  The  British  and  Spaniards  both  aban- 
doned Vancouver's  Island  after  the  Nootka  Sound 
controversy;  and  from  that  time  the  Spaniards  had 
no  settlement  of  any  kind  on  the  coast,  or  islands, 
north  of  Cape  Mendocino,  latitude  41°;  and  the 
British  had  none  anywhere.  In  this  state  of  the 
case  the  question  came  on  between  Russia,  Great 
Britain,  and  the  United  States,  in  which  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  islands  and  the  continent  was 
acknowledged  by  all  the  Powers,  and  Russia  ex- 
cluded from  the  continent,  and  confined  to  the 
islandc,  because  her  discoveries  and  settlements 
were  not  continental,  but  insular.  The  convention 
with  Russia  (British  and  American)  of  1824-25 
were  framed  upon  that  principle ;  and  now  I 
proceed  to  read  the^instn*ctions  from  our  Govern- 
ment under  which  this  distinction  between  the 
islands  and  the  continent  was  asserted  and  main- 
tained. I  read  from  Mr.  Adams's  despatch  to  Mr. 
Middleton,  .Tuly  22d,  1823: 

"  It  never  lias  lieen  tulmittod,  by  the  various  European 
nations  wliioii  Imve  Cornicd  settltmcntsi  in  tl)is  lieinispliere, 
tliat  llie  occupation  of  an  island  gave  any  claim  whatever  to 
territorial  possessions  on  the  continent  to  which  it  was  ad- 
joining. The  recognised  principle  has  rather  been  the  re- 
verse; as,  by  the  law  of  nuiure,  istumls  must  rather  be 
consiiiered  as  appurtenant  to  continents,  than  continents  to 
islands." 

And  again,  in  Mr.  Middleton 's  communications 
to  the  Russian  Government: 

•■  Tiie  Ku.->iaii»  iiiix  .■  an  c.-trihii.4mirnt  upon  the  i.si.md  of 
Sitka,  in  latitude  57°  30'.  This  fort,  built  in  1799,  was  de- 
stroveil  three  years  after  by  the  natives  of  the  country,  and 
re-establlshod  in  1804  by  Mr.  Lisiariki,  who  called  it  New 
Arc';iaiigel.  Ru-sia  cannot,  however,  avail  herself  of  the 
fireuitisiince  of  that  po.-^ae.ssion  to  form  a  foundation  for 
ri«h'  on  the  cuntinciit,  the  usage  of  nations  never*  having 
estalilished  that  the  occupation  of  an  island  could  give  .ights 
upon  a  neighboring  continent.    The  principle  is,  rattier,  that 


12 


Die  mWs  ought  to  be  considered  as  appendant  to  the  conti 
nenl,  tlian  the  inverse  of  the  propositioli." 

These  were  the  instructions  to  our  Minister, 

under  which  we  treated  with  Russia  in  1824,  and 

CJ    -ti.''''  'conventions  of  that  period  were 

fnZn^"    f^^'y  '''\^'"^'  ^^^  ^"""^  'hat  these  islands 
m  front  of  the  northwest  coast  were  considered  a 
separate  geographical  division  of  the  country,  Gov- 
erned by  national  law  applicable  to  island^  "and 
tha    discoveries  among  them,  even  perfected  by 
set tlement,  gave  no  claims  upon  the  continent^ 
Ihis  IS  the  way  the  two  Powers  settled  witii  Rus- 
sia.   Applying  the  same  principle  to  themselves 
and  no  discovery  of  Vancouver's  Island,  or  any 
one  of  the  thousand  islajids  along  that  coast,  can 
give  any  territorial  claims  on  tl'e  continent      5 
have  considered  it  a  cardinal  error,  in  all  the  recent 
discussions    on    Oregon,  to    bottom    continental 
claims  upon  these  insular  discoveries.     The  Snan 
mrds,  as  so  well  shown  in  the  speech  of  the  Sena- 
tor from  New  York,  [Mr.  D,x,]  were  the  prede- 
cessors of  the  British  in  these  discoveries;  but  I  did 
not  understand  him  as  claiming  the  continent  out 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  up  to  54°  40'.  bv 
virtue  of  these  maritime  discoveries;  and  I  am  very 
sure  that  I  Imiited  my  own  sanction  of  his  views 
to  the  tracks  of  the  ships  which  made  the  discov- 
eries.    I  consider  Spanish  discoveries  alon-  that 
coast  as  dominant  over  the  Briti.c^h,  both  for  prior- 
ity of  date  and  for  the  spirit  of  ownership  in  which 

tZ  "^"'^i  T'^''-     ^h'^  Spaniards  explored  as 
masters  of  the  country,  looking  after  their  own 
extended  and  contiguous  possessions,  and  to  which 
ro  limit  had  ever  been  placed:  the  British  explored 
in  the  character  of  adventurers,  seeking  new  lands 
in  a  distant  region.    Neither  made  permanent  set- 
tlements; both  abandoned;  and,  now,  I  see  noth- 
ing, either  in  the  value  or  the  title  of  these  islands, 
for  the  two  nations  to  fight  about.    The  principle 
of  convenience  aud  mutual  good  will,  so  magnani- 
mously proposed  by  the  Emperor  Alexander  in 
ItiJS,  seems  to  me  to  be  properly  applicable  to  these 
desolate    islands,    chiefly   valuable    for    harbors, 
which  are  often  nothing  but  volcanic  chasms,  too 
deep  for  anchorage  and  too  abrupt  for  approach. 
In  the  discussions  of  1824,  so  for  as  they  were  not 
sett  cd,  they  were  considered  appurtenant  to  the 
contment,  instead  of  the  continent  beitie  held  ap- 
purtenant to  them;  and  the  reversal  of  this  princi- 
ple, 1  apprehend,  has  been  the  great  error  of  the 


I 

4 


recent  discussions,  and  has  led  to  the  great  mistake 
n  relation  to  Frazer's  river.  I  dismiss  the  nues- 
tion,  then,  as  to  this  geographical  division  of  the 
country,  with  saying  tJiat  -i,r  title  to  these  islands 
IS  better  than  that  of  the  British,  but  that  neither  is 
perfect  for  want  of  settlement;  and  that  now,  as 
proposed  in  ;S24,  they  should  follow  the  fote  of  the 
continental  divisions  in  front  of  which  they  lie 

Frazer's  river  and  its  valley,  known  in  north- 
western geography  as  New  Caledonia,  is  the  ne^t 
division  of  the  disputed  country  to  which  I  shall 
ask  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  It  is  a  river  of 
about  a  thousand  miles  in  length,  (following  its 
windings,)  rising  in  the  Rocky'Mountaiiis,  o]ipo- 
stte  the  ncud  of  the  Unjigah,  or  Peace  river,  which 
flows  into  the  Frozen  ocean  in  latitude  about  70 
Ihe  course  of  this  river  is  nearly  north  and  south 
rising  in  latitude  55,  flowing  south  to  ne.ir  latitude 
4J,  and  along  that  parallel,  and  just  north  of  it,  to 
the  trulf  of  Georgia,  into  which  it  fails  behind  Van- 


couver's Island.    The  upper  part  of  this  river  is 
good   for  navigation;    the  lower  half,   plungin- 
^  u  n^    volcanic  chasms  in  mountains  of  rock,  is 
wholly  unnavigable  for  any  species  of  craft.   This 
rivev  was  discovered  by  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie 
in  1793,  was  «i  uled  by  the  Northwest  Company 
in  180G,  and  soon  covered  by  their  establishments 
from  head  to  mouth.     No  American  or  Spaniard 
had  ever  left  a  track  upon  this  river  q/  its  valley. 
Our  claim  to  it,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  rested  wholly 
upon  the  treaty  with  Spain  of  1819;  and  her  claim 
rested  wholly  upon  those  discoveries  among  the 
i£ands   the  value  of  which,  as  conferring  cfaims 
apon  the  continent,  it  has  been  my  province  to 
show  in  our  negotiations  with  Russia  in  1824.    At 
the  time  that  we  acquired  this  Spanish  claim  to 
iM-azers   river,  it   had   already   been    discovered 
twenty-six  years  by  the  British;  had  been  settled 
by  them  for  twelve  years;  was  known  by  a  British 
name;  and  no  Spaniard  had  evA  made  a  track  on 
Us  banks.     New  Caledonia,  or  Western  Caledo- 
nia, was  the  name  which  it  then  bore;  and  it  so 
happens  that  an  American  citizen,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, respectably  known   to  the  Senators  now 
present  from  that  State,  and  who  had  spent  twen- 
ty years  of  his  life  in  the  hyperborean  regions  of 
Northwest  America,  in  publishing  an  account  of 
his  travels  and  sojournings  in  that  quarter,  actually 
publKshed  a  description  of  this  New  Caledonia,  as 
a  British  province,  at  the  very  moment  that  we 
were  getting  it  from  Spain,  and  without  the  least 
suspicion   that  it  belonged  to  Spain  !     I  speak  of 
Mr.  Daniel  Harmon,  whose  .Journal  of  Nineteen 
Years'  Residence  between  latitudes  47  and  58  in 
Northwestern  America,  was  published  at  Andover, 
in  his  native  State,  in  the  year  1820,  the  precise 
year  after  we  had  purchased  this  New  Caledonia 
from  the  Spaniards.  '  I  read,  not  from  the  volume 
Itself,  which  is  not  in  the  library  of  Congress,  but 
from  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  January  No., 
1822,  as  reprinted  at  Boston;  article.  Western 
Caledonia. 

"The  descent  of  the  P.aee  river  tliroiicih  a  deep  chavm  in 
tlie  Kocky  Mountains  (ir.n  opened  a  pas:;a;;e  to  the  adventur- 
ers above  mentioned  into  tlic  unexploroil  coiintrv  heliiiul 
tliem,  to  whieh  tliey  <fave  the  name  of  N(;\v  Caledonia— a 
name,  however,  wliioh,  hcin<;  alreadvoeenpied  liv  the  Ans- 
traliisians,  might  advanta!,'eoiir;ly  l)e  changed  to  tliat  of  Wc^t 
cm  Lalciloma.    Tliis  passage  lies  in  latitude  Sfi"  30'.    Mac 
kenzie  liad  crossed  the  Rocky  chain  many  veara  before  in 
lalitnde  .>!.}»,  and   descended  a  larfre  river 'flowins;  to  the 
southward,  named  Taeontehe  T(s?6,  which  lie  conceived 
to  be  the  Cohimlna ;  hut  it  is  now  known  to  eniptv  itself 
about  Birch's  Bay  of  Vancouver,  in  latitude -19^ ;  whereas 
the  inoiith  of  the  Columbia  Iie^■  in  4i5»  15'.     Anoilier  river 
called  tlie   Caledonia,  (Frazer's  river.)  holdiiur  a  paia'lei 
course  to  the  Tacnutrhe  Tessfi.  (Coluinbia.)  falls  info  tli- 
sea  near  the  Admiralty  Inlet  <if  Vancouver,  in  lalif  nde  Jfe"' 
and  (orms  a  natural  houndarv  between  thenew  territorv  of 
taledoma  and  the  United  States,  fallina  in  precisely  with  a 
eontinned  hue  on  tlie  same  parallel  with  the  Lake  of  the 
woods,  and  leaviiu;  about  two  de>rre(!s  of  latitude  between 
It  and  the  Coluinliia.     Its  northern  houndarv  niav  he  taken 
in  latitude  ."iT',  clos,;  to  the  sontlienimost  of  tli,'  Itnssian  set- 
tleineiits.     TIk!  leniith,  therefori!.  will  be  about  ,V..),  and  the 
breadth,  from  the  mountains  to  tlie  Pacific,  from  yiiO  to  3J0 
gec-Kraphical  miles, 

'■  Tlic  whole:  of  this  vast  country  is  in  fact  so  inter-^pcted 
\A  til  rivers  and  lakes,  tiiat  Mr.  Harmon  i|iink<  <.tip.«ixth 
part  01  Its  „airai;e  may  h(!  considered  as  water.  'J'he  largest 
of  the  latter  yet  visited  is  named  Stuart's  lake,  and  is  sun- 
posed  to  be  about  400  miles  in  circiimfere.ee.  A  od-t  his 
lieen  established  on  its  martfin  in  latitud.  '  30'  north,  lon- 
ffitude  li)°  west.  Fitly  miles  to  the  \  ,vard  of  this  ia 
I'razer's  lake,  about  eighty  or  ninetv  i.  .es  in  cireumier- 
'■nce :  here,  too,  a  post  w.is  establisheil  in  1806.  A  third ,  of 
sixty  or  seventy  inilca  in  circumference,  has  been  named 


I 


t 


'        f 


i 

4 


13 


f 


^,]:uuit  l'^^  '  °  '■  "'■"  "•'"'•c  of  which  a  fort  has  bcci.  built 
ii  K.  n,n  '.""■."'  '""""""'  124»  west.  The  waters  of 
Uiw  lake  fall  into  th«  Peace  river;  those  flowing  out  of  the 
other  two  are  MJi)|iose<l  to  empty  thcinselve.s into  the  Pacific', 
anil  are  pr.^.ahly  the  two  rivers  pointed  out  by  Vancouver 
near  Pont  E-isinjjton,  aa  we  had  occasion  to  observe  in  a 
tornier  article.  The  immense  qimiitity  of  salmon  which  an- 
nually v,«it  these  two  lakes,  leave  no  doubt  whatever  Sf 

Jhfa"'/?"?'"""^"!'""  ^,"!'  ."''^  ^'"''^"' '  """l  ">e  absence  of 
his  h>li  Ironi  McLiod'.s  lake,  makes  it  almost  eoually  cer- 
tain that  its  outlet  H  not  into  that  ocean.     The  river  flowii.jr 

?ul  M.  f  '*."f  ■'"'*"  ?'*'""'^  ""■""Bli  the  populous  tribes  o( 
ho  N  ite-ote-tains  who  say  that  white  people  come  up  i« 

;I.';'w,..,"'h'  '"  '™f«  «■■"'  "'«  A-tc-nn.,  a  nation  dwel  ini 
between  them  and  the  sea,)  which  wn.s  fully  proved  by  the 
guns,  iron  pots,  cloth,  tar,  a.-id  other  articles  found  in  their 

wil'^r'S"*'"'.*'  "'"""t'V'^":'  of  Western  Caledonia  are  clothed 
with  timber  trees  to  their  very  summits,  coiusi.stiiig  princi- 
pally of  spriice  and  other  kinds  of  fir,  birch,  poplar,  aspen, 
cypress,  and,  ijenerally  speakinir,  all  those  which  are  found  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Rocky  MommUns.  The  large  animals 
common  tn  North  America,  such  as  bulfalo,  elk,  moose,  rein- 
deer, hears,  &c.,  are  not  numerous  in  this  new  territory ; 

mnVolf'^  '-'  "VrT'^y  ?f  f.^'"  ''««^'""'  o'te"-,  wolverine 
m.trten,  foxes  o(  diiierent  kinds,  and  the  rest  of  the  fur  ani- 
mals, any  more  than  of  wolves,  badgers,  and  polecats ;  fowls, 
■■'"i'.f  i"    »"■'  .''c«-'-iPt'o»s  found  in  North  America,  are 
pleiltitui  in  V\  estern  Caledonia,,;  cranes  visit  them  in  pro- 
digious numbers,  iis  do  swans,  bustards, geese, and  ducks." 
This  is  the  account  given  by  Mr.  Harmon  of 
JNew  Caledonia,  and  given  of  it  by  him  at  the  ex- 
act moment  that  we  were  purchasing  the  Spanish 
title  to  It !    Of  this  Spanish  title,  of  which  the 
Spaniards  never  heard,  the  narrator  seems  to  have 
been  as  profoundly  ignorant  as  the  Spaniards  were 
themselves  ;  and  made  his  description  of  New  Cal- 
edonia as  of  a  British  possession,  withoutany  more 
reference  to  an  adverse  title  than  if  he  had  been 
speaking  of  Canada.     So  much  for  tlie  written  de- 
scription: now  let  us  look  at  the  map,  and  see  how 
It  stands  there.     Here  is  a  map— a  54°  40'  map— 
which  will  show  us  the  features  of  ^he  country,  and 
the  names  of  the  settlements  upon  it.     Here  is 
Frazer's  river,  running  from  53°  to  49°,  and  here 
IS  a  line  of  British  posts  upon  it,  from  Fort  Mc- 
Leod,  at  its  head,  to  Fort  Langley,  at  its  mouth, 
and  from  Thompson's  Fork,  on  one  side,  to  Stu- 
art s  Fork  on  the  other.     And  here  are  clusters  of 
British  names,  imposed  by  the  British,  visible  every- 
where—Forts George,  St.  James,  Simpson,  Thomp- 
son, Frazer,  McLeod,  Langley,  and  others:  rivers 
and  lakes  with  the  same  names,  and  others:  and 
here  is  Deserter's  Creek,  so  named  by  Mackenzie, 
because  his  guide  deserted  iiim  there  in  July,  1793; 
and  here  is  an  Indian  village  which  he  named 
i'liendly,  because  the  people  were  the  most  friend- 
ly to  strangers  that  he  had  ever  seen;  and  here  an- 
other called  Rascals'  village,  so  named  by  Macken- 
zie fiftv-thrce  years  ago,  because  its  inhabitants 
were  the  most  rascally  Indians  he  had  ever  seen; 
and  here  is  the  representation  of  that  famous  bound- 
ary line  54°  40',  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  exact 
boundary  of  American   territorial  rights   in   that 
quarter,  and  which  happens  to  include  the  whole 
ol  New  Caledonia,  except  McLeod 's  fort,  and  the 
hall  of  Stuart's  lake,  and  a  .spring,  which  is  left 
to  the  British,  while  we  take  the  branch  which 
flows  from  It.     ThL.  linn  t^kes  all  in-rivcr,  lakes, 
torts,  villages.    See  how  it  goes!     Starting  at 
the  sea,  it  gives  us,  by  a  quarter  of  an  inch  on  the 
map,  I'ort  Simpson,  so  named  after  the  British 
governor  Simpson,  r.i.d  founded  by  the  Hudson 
bay  Coinpany      Uj  .o . i  what  principle  we  take  this 
British  fort  I  know  uot— except  it  be  on  the  as- 
sumption that  our  sacred  right  and  title  being  ad- 


justed to  a  minute,  by  the  aid  of  these  40  minutes, 
so  appositely  determined  by  the  Emperor  Paul's 
charter  to  a  fur  company  in  1799,  to  be  on  thij 
straight  line,  tlie  bud  example  of  even  a  slight  devi- 
ation from  it  at  the  start  should  not  be  allowed  even 
to  spare  a  British  fort  away  up  at  Point  Mclntyre, 
in  Chatham  Sound.  On  this  principle  we  can  un- 
derstand the  inclusion,  by  a  quarter  of  an  inch  on 
the  map,  of  this  remote  and  isolated  British  post. 
The  cutting  m  two  of  Stuart's  lake,  which  the  line 
does  as  it  runs,  is  quite  intelligible:  it  must  be  on 
the  principle  stated  in  one  of  the  fifty-four-forty 
papers,  that  Great  Britain  should  not  have  one  drop 
of  our  water;  therefore  we  divide  the  lake,  each 
taking  their  own  share  of  its  drops.  The  fate  of 
the  two  forts,  McLeod  and  St.  James,  so  near  to 
each  other  and  sc  far  off  from  us,  united  all  their 
lives,  and  now  so  unexpectedly  divided  from  each 
other  by  this  line,  is  less  comprehensible;  and  I 
cannot  account  for  the  difference  of  their  fates,  un- 
less It  IS  upon  the  law  of  the  day  of  judgment, 
when,  of  two  men  in  the  field,  one  shall  be  taken 
and  the  other  left,  and  no  man  be  able  to 'tell  the 
reason  why.  All  the  rest  of  the  inclusions  of  Brit- 
ish establishments  which  the  line  makes,  Vrom  head 
to  mouth  of  Frazer's  river,  are  intelligible  enough: 
they  turn  upon  the  principle  of  all  or  none  !— upon 
the  principle  that  every  acre  and  every  inch,  every 
grain  of  sand,  drop  of  water,  and  blade  of  grass  in 
all  Oregon,  up  to  fifty -four  forty,  is  ours  !  and  have 
it  we  will. 

This  is  the  country  which  geography  and  history 
five-and-twenty  years  ago  called  New  Caledonia, 
and  treated  as  a  British  possession ;  and  it  is  the 
country  which  an  organized  party  among  ourselves 
of  the  present  day  call  "  the  whole  of  Oregon  or 
none,"  and  every  inch  of  which  they  say  belongs 
to  us.  Well,  let  us  proceed  a  little  further  with 
the  documents  of  1823,  and  see  what  the  men  of 
that  day— President  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet— the 
men  who  had  made  the  treaty  witb Spain  by  which 
we  became  the  masters  of  this  large  domain:  let  us 
proceed  a  little  further,  and  see  what  they  thought 
of  our  title  up  to  fifty-four  forty.  I  read  from  the 
same  document  of  1823: 

M:  Mams  to  Mr.  Middleton,  July  22,  1823. 
"The  right  of  the  United  States,  from  the  forty-second 
to  the  forty-smth  parallel  of  latitude  on  the  Pacific  ocean 
we  consider  as  unquestionable,  being  founded,  first,  on  the 
acquisition  by  the  treaty  of  92d  February,  1819,  of  all  the 
rights  of  Spain  ;  second,  by  the  discovery  of  the  Columbia 
river,  first  from  the  sea  at  its  mouth,  and  then  by  land  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke ;  and,  third,  by  the  settlement  at  its  mouth 
ill  1811.  This  territory  is  to  the  United  States  of  an  im- 
portance which  no  possession  in  North  America  can  he  of 
to  any  European  nation,  not  only  as  it  is  but  the  continuity 
of  their  posfwsions  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  occaii, 
but  as  It  offers  their  inhabitants  the  means  of  establishing 
Hereafter  water  communications  from  the  one  to  the  other." 

FoRTV-NiNE,  Mr.  President,  forty-nine  !    To 

THAT  LINE,  AND  TliAT  FOUR  YEARS  AFTER  THE 
ACQUISITION  OF  THE  SpANISH  CLAIM,  WAS  OUR  UN- 
questionable right  held  to  extend;  fifty-one 
was  the  highest  df.natable  line  named  a>;n 
that  named  on  a  principle  known  to  be  erro- 
neous, and  ready  to  be  given  up. 

Again: 

Mr.  Mam  to  Mr.  Rush.     Same  date. 

"  ny  the  treaty  of  amity,  settlement,  and  limits,  between 
the  TTnited  istates  and  Spain,  of  22d  February,  1819,  tlie 
boundary  line  between  Uieiu  was  fixed  at  the  forty-second 
degree  oi  ialitudc,  from  tiio  source  of  tiic  iVrkansas  river  to 


14 


\ 


Die  Sou'h  sea.    By  which  treaty  the  United  States  acquired 
nil  the  rights  of  Simiii    uith  ofthiit  pariillel. 

"Tlic  right  of  ihr  l.nitcd  Stales  to  the  Columbia  river, 
and  to  the  interior  territory  washed  hy  its  waters,  rests  upon 
its  discovery  from  the  eea  and  nomination  l)y  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States ;  upon  its  exploration  to  the  sea,  made  by 
Captains  Lewis  and  Clarke ;  upon  tlie  settlement  of  Astoria, 
made  under  tint  protection  of  the  United  States,  and  thus 
restored  to  them  in  1818;  and  upon  this  subsequent  acqui- 
sition of  all  the  riulits  of  Spain,  the  only  European  Power 
who,  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  river,  had  any  pretensions 
to  territorial  rights  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America. 

"  The  w.iters  of  the  Columbia  river  extend,  by  the  Mult- 
nomah, to  the  42d  degree  of  latitude,  where  its  source  ap- 
proaches within  a  few  miles  of  those  of  the  Platte  and  Ar- 
kansas ;  and  by  Clarke's  river  to  the  50th  or  .'ilst  degree  of 
latitude ;  thence  descending,  southward,  till  its  sources 
almost  inters^ect  those  of  the  Missouri." 

"  To  the  territory  thus  watered,  and  immediately  con- 
tiguous to  the  original  possessions  of  the  United  States,  as 
first  bounded  on  the  Mississippi,  they  consider  their  right  to 
be  now  established  by  all  the  principles  which  have  ever 
been  applied  to  European  settlements  upon  the  American 
hemisphere." 

This  is  an  extract  of  great  value,  and  is  an  am- 
plification and  development  of  the  principle  laid 
dov/n  iji  the  extract  just  read.  It  recites  the  Span- 
ish treaty  of  1819,  and  claims  nothing  under  it  be- 
yond the,  Columbia  and  its  valley.  To  this  our 
title  is  alleged  to  be  complete,  on  American  grounds, 
independent  of  the  treaty,  namely,  discovery,  set- 
tlement, and  colonization  by  Mr.  Astor,  untler  the 
protection  of  the  United  States: 

Again: 

Mr.  Adams  to  Mr.  Rush.     Same  despatch. 

"  If  the  British  Northwest  and  Hudson  Bay  Companies 
have  any  posts  on  the  roast,  as  stiggestid  in  tlie  article  in  the 
Quarterly  Review  above  cited,  tli'^  tliiid  article  of  the  con- 
vention of  the  2i)th  of  October,  1818,  is  applicable  to  tliem. 
Mr.  Middletoii  is  authorized  to  propose  an  article  of  similar 
iniiiurt,  10  be  inserted  in  a  joint  convention  between  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  Eiissia,  for  a  term  of  ten 
years  from  its  signature.  You  are  authorized  t/(  mi.ke  tlie 
same  proposal  to  the  British  Government ;  and,  with  a  view 
to  draw  a  definite  line  of  demarcation  for  the  future,  to  stip- 
ulate that  no  settlement  shall  hereafter  he  made  on  the 
northwest  coast,  Qr  on  any  of  the  islands  thereto  aJjoin- 
iiiij,  by  Russian  subjects,  south  of  latitude  55;  by  citizens  of 
the  United  States  north  of  latitude  51  ;  or  hy  British  subjects 
either  south  of  51  or  north  of  55. 

"  I  mention  the  latitude  of  51,  as  tlie  hound  within  which 
we  are  willing  to  limit  the  fulure  settleiTiciit  of  the  United 
States,  because  it  is  not  to  l)e  doubted  that  the  Coliiinhia 
river  branclK-s  .as  far  north  as51,aItliougli  it  is  most  probably 
not  the  Taeoneschee  Tessd  of  Alackeiizie.  As,  however,  the 
line  already  runs  in  latitude  49  to  the  Stony  Mountains,  should 
it  be  earnestly  insisted  upon  by  Great  Britaiii,*ve  will  eon- 
ser."  to  carry  it  in  continuance,  on  the  same  parallel,  to  the 
sea.  Copies  of  tills  instruction  will  likewise  bo  forwarded 
to  Mr.  iMiddletim,  willi  whom  you  will  freely  but  cautiout-ly 
correspond  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  in  regard  to  your  ne- 
gotiation respecting  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade." 

Four  things  must  strike  the  attention  in  this  ex- 
tract: 1.  The  offer  of  a  partnership  to  the  Emperor 
Alex-aiider,  which  he  wisely  refused.  2.  The  of- 
fer of  the  same  to  Great  Britain,  which  she  saga- 
ciously aicppted.  3.  The  offer  of  55°  to  Great 
Britain  as  her  permanent  northern  boundary.  4. 
Tite  offer  of  51°  to  her  as  a  permanent  southern 
boundary,  and  its  offer  on  a  principle  not  valid, 
vdth  the  aUernativo  to  fall  back  upon  the  line  of 
49'^.  The  British,  who  know  all  this,  and  a  great 
deal  more,  must  be  astonished  at  our  fifty-four- 
forty  war  fever  of  to-day ! 

Again: 

Mr.  Rush  to  Mr.  Mams. 

'<  London,  Dceemhcr  22, 1893. 
"In  an  interview  I  had  with  Mr.  Canning  last  week,  I 
made  kucwu  to  him,  as.preparatory  to  the  negotiation,  tlie 


views  of  our  Government  relative  to  the  northwest  coast  of 
America.    These,  as  you  know,  are : 

"First.  That,  as  regards  the  country  westward  of  thft 
Rocky  Mountains,  the  three  Powers,  viz:  Great  Britain,  the 
United  States,  and  Russia,  should  jointly  agroe  to  a  conven- 
tion, to  be  in  force  ten  years,  similar  hi  its  nature  to  the 
thira  article  of  the  convention  of  October,  1818,  now  sub- 
sisting between  the  two  former  Powers;  and  secondly,  that 
the  United  States  would  stipulate  not  to  make  iny  settle- 
ments on  tliat  coadt  north  of  the  fifty  first  degree  of  latitude, 
provided  Great  Britain  would  stiiiulate  not  to  make  any 
south  of  51°  or  north  of  55'';  and  Russia  not  to  make  any 
Houth  of  .55°. 

"Mr.  Canning  expressed  no  opinion  on  the  above  propo- 
sitions fuither  than  to  hint,  under  his  first  impressions, 
strong  objections  to  the  one  which  foos  to  limit  Great  Brit- 
ain northwards  to  55°.  His  object  in  wisliing  to  learn  from 
me  our  propositions  .at  this  point  cf  time,  was,  as  I  under- 
stood, that  he  might  better  write  to  Sir  Charles  Bagot  on  the 
whole  subject  to  which  tliey  relate." 

Again: 

Same  to  same,  December  19, 1823. 

"  And  secondly,,  that  the  United  Sftites  were  willing  to 
stipulate  to  make  no  settlements  north  of  the  51st  degree  of 
north  latitude  on  that  coiist,  provided  Great  Britain  stipulated 
to  make  none  souih  of  .")1°  or  north  of  35";  and  Russia  to 
make  none  south  of  55°."  ^    >  • 

Again: 

Same  to  same,  same  date. 

"That  they  (the  United  States)  were  willing,  however, 
waiviu!^  for  tlu;  pnvsont  the  full  advantage  of  these  claims,  to 
forbear  all  settlements  north  of51,as  that  limit  niisl't  be  suf- 
ficient to  give  lliein  the  benefit  of  nil  the  waters  of  the  Co- 
lumbia river;  hut  that  they  would  e.v|)ect  Great  Britain  to 
abstain  from  coming  soutli  of  that  limit  or  going  above  .55 ; 
the  latter  parallel  being  taken  as  th.at  iieyond  wiiich  it  was 
not  imagined  that  she  had  any  actual  settlements." 

On  Friday,  Mr.  President,  I  read  one  passage 
from  the  documents  of  1823,  to  let  you  see  that 
fitly- four  forty  (for  that  is  the  true  reading  of  fifty- 
five)  had  been  offered  to  Great  Britain  tor  her  north- 
ern boundary:  to-day  I  read  you  six  passaoes 
from  tlie  same  documents,  to  show  the  same  thin?. 
And  let  me  remark  once  more — the  remark  will 
bear  eternal  repetition — these  offers  were  made  by 
the  men  who  had  acquired  the  Spanish  title  to  Ore- 
gon !  and  who  must  be  presumed  to  know  as  much 
about  it  as  those  wiiose  acquaintance  with  Oregon 
dates  from  the  epoch  of  the  Baltimore  Convention 
— whose  love  for  it  dates  from  the  era  of  its  pro- 
mulgation as  a  party  watchword — whose  knowl- 
edge of  it  extends  to  the  luminous  pages  of  Mr. 
Greenhow's  book! 

Six  times  Mr.  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet  renounced 
Frazer's  river  and  its  valley,  and  left  it  to  tiie  Brit- 
ish !  They  did  so  on  the  intelligible  principle  that 
the  British  had  discovered  it,  and  settled  it,  and 
were  in  the  actual  possession  of  it  when  we  got  the 
Spanish  claim;  which  claim  Spain  never  made! 
Upon  this  principle.  New  Caledonia  was  left  to  the 
British  in  1823.  Upon  what  jirinciple  is  it  clainned 
now  ? 

This  is  what  Mr.  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet  thought 
of  our  title  to  the  whole  of  Oregon  or  none,  in  the 
year  1823.  They  took  neither  branch  of  this  prop- 
osition. They  did  not  go  for  all  or  none,  but  for 
some !  They  took  some,  and  left  some;  and  they 
divided  by  a  line  right  in  itself,  and  convenient  in 
itself,  and  mutually  Mutable  to  each  party.  This 
President  and  his  Cabinet  carry  their  "  unquestiim- 
able  right"  to  Oregon  as  far  as  49,  and  no  further. 
This  is  exactly  what  was  done  six  years  before. 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Rush  offered  the  same  line, 
as  being  a  continuation  of  the  line  of  Utrecht,  (de- 
scribing it  by  that  name  in  their  despatch  of  Octo- 


4 


1« 


4 


This 


ber  20th,  1818)  and  an  covering  the  valley  of  the 
Columbia  river,  to  which  they  alleged  our  title  to 
be  indisputable.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  offered  the 
same  line  in  1807.  All  these  offers  leave  Frazer's 
river  and  its  valley  to  the  British,  because  they  dis- 
covered and  settled  it.  All  these  offers  hold  on  to 
the  Columbia  river  and  its  valley,  because  we  dis- 
covered and  settled  it;  and  all  these  offers  let  the 
principle  of  contiguity  or  continuity  work  equally 
on  the  British  as  on  the  American  side  of  the  line 
of  Utrecht. 

This  is  what  the  statesmen  did  who  made  the 
acquisition  of  the  Spanish  claim  to  Oregon  in  1819. 
In  four  years  afterwards  they  had  freely  offered  all 
north  of  49  to  Great  Britain;  and  no  one  ever 
thought  of  arraigning  them  for  it.  Most  of  these 
statesmen  have  gone  through  fiery  trials  since,  and 
been  fiercely  assailed  on  all  the  deeds  of  tiieir  lives; 
but  I  never  heard  of  one  of  them  bejng  called  to 
account,  much  less  lose  an  election,  for  the  part  he 
acted  in  otrering  49  to  Great  Britain  in  1823,  or 
at  any  other  time.  For  my  part,  I  thought  they 
were  right  then,  and  I  think  so  now;  I  was  Sena- 
tor then,  as  I  am  now.  I  thought  with  them  that 
New  Caledonia  belonged  to  the  British;  and  think- 
ing so  still,  and  acting  upon  the  first  half  of  the 
great  maxim — Ask  nothing  but  whdt  is  right— I 
shall  not  ask  them  for  it,  much  less  fight  them  for 
it  now. 

I  come  now  to  the  third  geographical  division  of 
the  contested  country,  purposely  reserved  for  the 
last,  because  it  furnishes  the  subject  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  second  half  of  the  great  maxim:  Sub- 
mit to  nothing  that  is  wrong.  I  come  to  the  river 
Columbia,  and  its  vast  and  magnificent  valley.  I 
once  made  a  description  of  it,  with  an  anathema 
.gainst  its  alienation.  I  described  it  by  metes  and 
bounds — by  marks  and  features — and  then  wrote 
its  name  in  its  face.  The  fifty-four  forties  got  hold 
of  my  description — rubbed  out  the  name — oblit- 
erated the  features — expanded  the  boundaries — 
took  in  New  Caledonia,  and  all  the  rivers,  lakes, 
bays,  sounds,  islands,  valleys,  forts,  and  settle- 
ments, all  the  way  up  to  54  40  !  and  then  turned 
my  own  anathema  against  myself,  because  tkeir 
minds  could  not  apply  words  to  things.  Well !  I 
take  no  offence  at  this.  There  are  some  people  too 
simple  to  get  angry  with.  All  we  do  with  them 
in  the  West  is,  to  have  them  "  cut  for  the  sim- 
ples;" after  which  they  are  cured.  They  can  per- 
form this  operation  for  themselves,  or  have  it  done. 
If  by  themselves,  all  they  have  to  do  is  lub  their 
eyes,  and  read  again:  if  by  others,  the  operator 
must  read,  and  caution  the  listening  patient  to  stick 
the  word  to  the  thing. 

The  valley  of  the  Columbia  is  ours:  ours  by 
discovery,  by  settlement,  and  by  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht!  and  has  too  often  been  so  admitted  by 
TJreat  Britain,  to  af'.rv' •  t  of  her  disputing  it  now.  I 
do  not  plead  our  tii'^  ,  rhat  greai  country.  I  did 
tliat  twenty  years  ago,  .vhen  there  were  few  to  re- 
peat or  applaud  what  I  said.  I  pass  over  the 
ground  which  I  trod  so  long  ago,  and  which  has 
been  .again  so  much  trodden  of  late,  and  take  up 
the  question  at  a  fresh  place— the  admissions  of 
Great  Britain  !  and  show  that  she  is  concluded  by 
her  own  acts  and  words  from  ever  setting  up  any 
claim  to  the  river  and  valley  of  the  Columbia,  or  to 
any  part  of  the  territory  south  of  the  49th  degree. 

I  begin  witli  Mr.  Astor's  settlement  on  the  Co- 


lumbia, and  rest  upon  it  as  a  corner-stone  in  this 
new  edifice  of  argument  against  Great  Britain. 
What  was  that  settlement?  Not  a  mere  trading 
post,  for  temporary  traffic,  down  in  a  corner,  and 
without  the  knowtedge  of  nations  or  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  own  Government.  On  the  contrary,  it 
was  the  foundation  of  a  colony,  and  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  whole  valley  of  the  Columbia,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  commercial  emporium,  of  which 
the  mouth  of  the  i-iver  was  the  seat,  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains  on  one  hand  and  Eastern  Asia  on  the 
other  were  the  outposts.  Gre..£  Britain  saw  it 
without  objection — the  United  States  with  appro- 
bation; and  every  circumstance  which  proclaimed 
and  legitimated  a  national  undertaking  signalized 
and  commemorated  its  commencement,  existence, 
and  overthrow. 

It  was  in  the  year  1810 — four  years  after  the  re- 
turn of  Lewis  and  Clarke's  expedition — that  Mr. 
Astor,  witli  the  enlarged  and  comprehensive  views 
of  a  "  merchant  prince,"  projected  from  the  western 
shore  of  the  Atlantic  this  great  establishment  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  A  ship 
commanded  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States 
navy,  ft-eighted  with  everything  necessary  for  the 
foundation  of  a  colony,  sailed  from  New  York  to 
double  Cape  Horn  :  an  overland  expedition  of 
ninety  men,  led  by  a  gentleman  of  New  .Jersey, 
proceeded  from  St.  Lovris  to  cross  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  In  the  spring  of  1811  the  two  expe- 
ditions met  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  im- 
mediately,proceeded  to  fulfil  the  intentions  of  the 
bold  projector  of  the  enterprise.  Astoria  was 
founded:  its  dependant  post,  the  Okenakan,  was 
established  six  hundred  miles  up  the  river:  the 
Spokan,  another  dependant,  was  established  two 
liundred  miles  higher  up,  and  at  the  base  of  the 
rnountains:  a  third,  the'Wahlamath,  was  estab- 
lished upon  the  river  of  that  name,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  southeast  of  Astoria..  Parties  of 
traders  and  hunters  covered  all  the  wate.s  of  the 
Columbia  river  from  head  to  i-'outh;  fleets  of  bat- 
teaus,  carrying  up  merchandi;<e  and  bringing  down 
furs,  had  their  regular  arrival  and  departure  from 
Astoria.  Two  more  ships  arrived  from  New  York. 
Canton,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  New  Archangel, 
the  coast  of  California,  were  visited  by  Mr.  As- 
tor's ships.  The  Pacific  Fur  Company  was  in  full 
tide  of  success.  Astoria  became  the  centre  of  an 
extended  trade:  her  name  became  knosvn  to  the 
world.  This  was  notice  to  the  world  that  an 
American  colony  was  being  founded  on  the  Co- 
lumbia, and  no  Power  in  the  wide  world  objected 
to  it.  It  was  before  the  Spanish  treaty  of  1819, 
and  Spain  did  not  object.  It  was  after  all  the  pre- 
tended claims  of  Great  Britain,  as  now  set  up,  and 
she  did  not  object.  Special  notice  had  previously 
been  given  to  the  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  and 
he  had  nothing  to  say  against  it.  Special  notice 
had  already  been  given  to  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany, and  they  invited  to  join  in  the  enterprise  as 
traders,  which  they  refused  to  do,  beca\isfi  it  wra 
an  American  enterprise.  Far  from  objecting  to 
the  settlement,  they  sent  a  special  agent  across 
the  continent  to  stipulate  with  Mr.  Astor's  agents 
that  they  should  confine  themselves  to  the  valley 
of  the  Columbia,  which  arrangement  was  made. 
Special  notice  was  given  to  our  own  Government, 
its  sanction  obtained,  and  its  protection  solicited; 
and  if  protection,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  waa 


16 


not  promised,  it  wns  because  it  was  felt  to  be  im- 
possible to  send  troops  and  ships  there,  in  the 
event  of  the  war,  to  prevent  its  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  British;  but  that  it  was  to  be  protect- 
ed, in  the  general  sense  of  the  word,  was  promised, 
as  was  proved  at  Ghent  when  peace  came  to  be 

made.  ...  n      .  t>  ••  • 

Two  years  passed  off  in  this  way;  Great  britain 
made  no  objection;  her  agent,  the  Northwest 
Company  agreed  to  our  occupation  of  the  whole 
valley;  and  acquiescence,  v..ider  these  circum- 
stances, becomes  an  admission  of  American  title 
which  forever  closes  the  mouth  of  Great  »"tain. 

In  this  manner  the  Columbia  was  settled  l)y  Mr. 
Astor;  in  this  manner  it  was  held  by  him  for  two 
years.    Now  for  the  manner  in  which  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of   Great  Britain.      Two  years  had 
elapsed  from  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  Astoria, 
when  intelligence  arrived  at  that  place  with  the 
news  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  and  information  of  a  departure  of  a  ship  ot 
war  from   London  to  join  the  souadron  under 
Commodore  Hillyar,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
proceed  to  capture  Astoria  as  an  important  Amer- 
ican colony.     At  the  same  time  several  partners  of 
the  Northwest  Company  arrived  at  Astona,  con- 
firmed the  information  of  the  British  designs  on 
the  post,  and  offered  to  purchase  all  the  stock  on 
hanLgoods  ajid  furs,  of  Mr.  Astor,  as  the  only 
means  of  preventing  them  from  becoming  a  prize 
to  a  British  squadron.    The  agents  of  Mr.  Astoi 
sold  under  this  duress,   receiving  the  fourth  or 
fifth  part  of  what  the  property  was  worth,     boon 
after  a  ship  of  war  from  Commodore  HiUyar  s 
squadron  arrived,  took  possession  of  the  post  with- 
out opposition,  but  with  all  the  formahtici  of  a 
British  conquest,  and  with  great  chagrin  to  the 
officers  at  the  loss  of  their  expected  booty.     1  his 
ia  the  manner  in  which  the  British  got  possession 
of  Astoria,  and  with   it  the  whole  valley  o.  the 
Columbia.     As  a  British  conquest  they  took  i  ;  as 
such  they  agreed  to  restore  it  under  the  treaty  ot 
Ghent.     Aifd  thus,  at  the  settlement  of  Astona, 
and  the  occupation  of!  the  whole  valley  of  the  Co- 
lumbia, the  British   Government,  by  us    SI  ent 
acquiescence,  admitted  our  uncixmlwnuok  right  to 
it      By  seizing  it  as  a  British  conquest,  they  ad- 
m'itted  our  right  again.     By  agreeing  to  i^store  it 
under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  they  admit  ed  it  a  tl  iid 
time-three  times  in  five  years;  and  this  ought  to 
be  enou-h,  in  all  conscience,  to  preclude  present 
claims,  founded  on  previous  stale  and  vague  pre- 

*^  Norfor  the  proof  of  all  that  I  have  said. 

I  happen  to  have  in  my  possession  the  bool  ,  ot 
all  others,  which  gives  the  fullest  and  most  authen- 
?k  de  a  Is  on  all  the  points  I  have  mentioned,  and 
wriuen  at  a  time  and  under  circumstances  when 
Te  au"hor  (himself  a  British  «ub,<.<^t  and  fom^l  a 
on  the  Columbia). had  no  more  '<1<^^ 'J^^a^^h/g;'.. 
ish  would  lay  claim  to    hat  river  fan  Mr.  Hai^^ 

Kgh'f^uSSiiliKwCaiedonia.  Itisthe 
work  of  Mr.  Franchere,  a  gentleman  of  Montreal, 
with  whom  I  have  the  pleasure  to  be  personally 
acquainted,  and  one  of  those  employed  by  M^^ 
A^or  in  founding  his  colony.  He  was  at  tne 
founding  of  Astorfa;  at  the  sale  to  the  Northwest 
Company-  saw  the  place  seized  as  a  British  con- 
quXS  remained  three  years  afterwards  in  the 


country ,  in  the  service  of  the  Northwest  Company. 
He  wrote  in  French:  his  work  has  not  bc^n  done 
into  English,  though  it  well  deserves  it,  and  I  read 
from  the  French  text.  He  first  gives  a  bnef  and 
true  account  of  the  discovery  of  the  Columbia. 
He  says: 

"  In  1792,  Cantnin  Grny.  cniiimnrding  the  ship  Columhia, 
of  Uo.t..n,  di.srov«rea  the  .■iitranco  of  a  lar^'o  Lay  in  46  de- 
cr.M's  19  ininruw  of  north  latitiid.-.  II«' <;»t'-'-'- !,  ;  "  ^^I 
ins,  hv  the  fri'sh  water  wliieii  he  found  at  a  lillle  <l'^t.  »ee 
&  L  mouth,  that  it  was  a  lan-e  'X.''lnft  Imik"  a  the 
eighteen  miles,  and  east  anchor  upon  the  lertb.iik.at  he 
entrance  of  a  deep  hay.  He  there  drew  up  a  oliar  of  what 
l"  h-JdiJovcred  of  this  rivr  and  oftl.c  neuihbonng  couu- 
rv;  and  after  havinu'  trafficked  with  the  natives,  (th;:  fJ^' 
f.;V  which  lie  eanie  upon  lhes(!  coa.-ts,)  he  regained  the  sea; 
nd  oon  after  met'oaptain  Vancouver,  who  was  sai  ing 
u  der  the  orders  of  the  British  Government  in  search  of  dis- 
eo  eries  Captain  Gray  made  known  to  him  the  'I'seovery 
whiel  he  had'.na,le,  and  even  '"'"'"»'':■"  7,  "'il,';''^'' "^'^ 
whieli  ho  had  drawn  up.  Vancouver  sent  1  is  first  1>  ■"t™- 
ant,  Brou.;htou,  who  ascended  ti.e  river  118  miles ;  took 
possessiorfofitin  the  name  of  his  B"t»"'"f,3«^iy,i.  f,'";« 


nossession  or  ii  in  iiie  iiuiui;  "■  ■■><■  — •■-  ----j  •-....  t 

it  the  name  of  Columbia,  and  to  the  ba.v;^wherc  (Japtain  (,  ay 
ad  St  pped  the  name  of  Gray's  Bay.    Since  this  period   he 
country  lm8  been  much  frequented,  especially  by  Au.c/i- 
cans."  „ 

This  brief  and  plain  account  of  the  discovery  ot 
the  Columbia  is  valuable  for  showing— jirsf,  that 
we  discovered  the  river;  se«on(Z/y,  that  we.showed 
it  to  British  navigators;  and,  Mrdbj,  that  one  ot 
those  to  v/hom  we  showed  it  immediately  claimed 
it  as  British  property.  We  shall  soon  see  that  tlie 
British  Government,  or  its  agents  in  these  parts, 
the  Northwest  Company,  gave  no  attention  to  this 
claim  of  Mr.  Broughton,  go  little  creditable  to  his 
candor  and  justice.  Vancouver,  like  a  man  ot 
honor,  never  claimed  Captain  Gray's  discovery, 
but  assigned  to  hhn  the  entire  credit  of  it,  with 
thanks  for  his  communication  of  it  to  himselt. 
The  design  of  Mr.  Astor 's  establishment  is  thus 

spoken  of: 

»Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor,  mc't'^^nt  "f  New  York    who 
carried  on  alone  the  trade  in  furs  to  the  south  of  the  great 
La'ies  Huron  and  Superior,  an.l  wlio  had  aeqnircd  by  this 
eommerceaprodiKious  fortune,  believed  he  could  >^!t  au?- 
me  t  ttStune  by  formi..«,on  the  hanks  of  theColumb  a, 
an  establishment,  of  which  *^''"t'-eif  ,,f^'™'^„f^%f  J,*^ 
mouth.    He  communicated  Ins  views  to  the  agents  ol  Uie 
Northwest  Company;  he  wished  even  to  make  this  estab- 
Usl  ,  ent  n  co^leert  with  them ;  but  after  sonu.  "<'?"'?,» 
the  winterini;  partners  (le^  yrotrniUtircs  twcrnmM  liav  ng 
refected  his  propositions,  Mr  Astor  determined  to  make  the 
attempt  alone.    It  was    essential  to  his  »"<^''e^«/''at  he 
sho  Id  have  persons  lorn,-  accustomed  to  trade  with  the  In- 
di^  sad  he  did  not  delay  to  find  them.    Mr.  A  exander 
McKav,  (the  same  who  had  accompanied  Sir  Alexander 
M  icken/  e  in  his  voyages,)  a  man  bold  and  enterprising, 
foined  hi  n     a  d,  soonSif'ter,  Messrs.  Duncan  McDm.ga  , 
n  na  d  Maeken/.i^e,  (heretofore  in  the  service  of  the  No  tli- 
west  Cmitpan  ',     hkvid  Stuart,  and  Robert  Stuart,  all  of 
Canrta  did  the  same.     Finally,  in  the  winter  of  1810,  mr. 
W   son  Price  Hunt,  of  St.  Louis',  on  the  Mississippi,  having 
aVoToi'ic'l  themllb'ey  determined toat the expediUon  should 
take  place  the  fbllowing  spring." 

This  shows  a  direct  communication  of  Mr.  As- 


tor's  design  to  the  Northwest  Company, 


tor's  uesign  lo  uic  j.-<iuiuiwi,o,- ^^....1- — , ,  an 
their  refusal  to  act  in  concert  with  him,  because  ot 
the  American  character  of  the  cntcrpnse;  also  the 
reason  why  he  employed  many  Canadtansm  his 
service:  it  was  lur  tlic  saiic  of  iun  m^  e.vpcr..  nc-,-i 
traders  to  assist  in  conducting  his  busmess.  It 
ihows  also  that,  among  other  Carmdian  gentAeme", 
he  had  employed  Mr.  Alexander  McKay,  the  faith- 
Had^pTnio^n  of  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  in  h.s 
expedition  to  the  Pacific  ocean  in  1793.  1  his  gen- 
tleman knew  vhere  Mackenzie's  discoveries  were, 
and  wheth.  >  Ax.  Astor  was  about  to  trespass  upon 


17 


llicm.  This,  then,  was  the  time  to  speak:  on  the 
contrary,  the  comjmnion  of  Mackenzie  goes  on  to 
assist  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  American 
colony  on  the  Columbia! 

Mr.  Franchere  proceeds: 

"  fl  is  well  to  state  that,  during  our  Hojoiirii  in  New  York, 
and  hilore  leaviiis  timt  city,  Mi.  M-'Kaj  h.lieved  it  would 
1)6  prudent  to  sen  Mr.  Jackson,  the  Afinistcr  Pleninotunliarv 
of  Ins  nntannic  Majesty,  in  order  to  inform  him  ottlieohicct 
tor  whicli  he  was  about  to  embark,  and  to  ask  his  advicij  as 
ti>  what  he  should  do  in  case  of  a  ru()ture  between  the  two 
Powers,  inlinintinj?  to  iiini  that  we  were  all  British  subjects 
and  that  we  were  goini?  to  trade  under  tlie  American  Ha-. 
After  some  momenis'  reflection,  Mr.  Jackson  said  to  him, 
' .,""  -^"i!''  V"  ?"'"8  '"  '"'■'"  "  "i<-'rcaritile  establishment  at 
-  the  ri  k  of  our  lues ;  that  all  he  could  promise  U8  was,  that, 
'  in  case  of  a  war  between  the  two  Powers,  we  should  be  re- 
<8[)ected  as  British  subjects  and  traders.'  Tiiis  answer  nn- 
peared  .satisfactory,  and  Mr.  McKay  believed  he  had  nothiiiij 
more  to  fear  from  that  (juarter."  ' 

This  was  in  the  year  1810— seventeen  years 
after  the  discoveries  of  M.ickenzie,  and  eight  years 
alter  Mr.  Broughton  took  possession  of  the  Co- 
lumhia  in  the  name  of  his  Britannic  Majesty;  and 
at  this  time,  the  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  on  a 
special  communication  made  to  liim  of  Mr.  Astor's 
design  to  occupy  the  Columbia,  has  not  a  word  to 
sity  against  it.  Up  to  that  time,  it  had  not  occur- 
red to  the  British  Government  that  the  Columbia 
river  was  then-a ! 

The  ship  Tonquin,  carrying  the  maritime  part 
ot  the  expedition,  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia March  25th,  1811.  The  approach  t)  the 
coast  revealed  nothing  but  lofty  ranges  of  moun- 
tains, white  with  snow,  through  a  gap  of  which 
the  great  river  of  the  West  entered  the  sea.  The 
weather  was  bad— the  night  dark-two  boats  had 
been  swamped— no  pilots,  lights,  or  buoys-yet 
tiie  captain  (a  rash  man,  who  afterwards  blew  up 
his  ship  at  Nootka)  entered  safely,  and  anchored 
at  mulnight  in  a  commodious  harbor.  On  the  12th 
of  April,  after  examining  both  sides  of  the  bay  for 
the  best  situation,  a  site  was  chosen  on  the  south 
aide  about  four  or  five  leagues  from  the  sea,  and 
the  foundation  of  Astoria  began— a  name  in  itself 
the  badge  of  American  title.  On  the  liUh  of  July, 
the  young  Astoria  received  an  important  visit, 
Wiuch  IS  thus  described: 

t„",lu}\^^iZ^^^  "}  ""'  •'"•■  »I'P"i"t<-'''.  nor  an  expedition 
to  the  inteiior,)  and  we  were  prejiaring  to  load  the  canoe< 
when  towards  midday,  we  saw  a  lar?e  canoe,  carry  °g  a 
&/      Iv,'  :r'  n'»"'''"'!t>>«  P'i»t  called  by  US   Ton.le 

not  ook  o  inn™  l^""™'^  "■""  ""'J'  '"*S'"  ^^'-  '■"'  we  did 
not  look  so  soon  for  our  pooide,  who  (as  the  reader  may 

ri nt  i,''Ve«7"  '",  7r',  "r  T"""""^  ''V  'I'"  '"•"«  «l' id, 
(.aiUin.-,  Lewis  and  Clarke  had  followed  in  180.5,  anrt  iviiiter 
f..r  this  purpose  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri.    Ouruncer 
tamty  was  soon  banislied  by  the  nei.rins  of  the  canoe,  wliieli 

anded  near  a  little  quay  which  we  had  built  to  fi.cilitatc 
the  unloading  of  our  v^-ssel.  The  flag  which  this  canoe 
earned  was  the  British  flag;  aiidher  crewamouiited  foonlv 
nine  persons  in  all.  A  man,  .piite  w.dl  dressed,  and  who 
appeared  to  command,  leaped  first  to  the  shore,  and  Mceost- 
jng  us  without  ceremony,  tc^ld  us  that  he  was  named  David 
cllnlll^uT'  ^^r  "'"••  °V^'  "■•■'l"-'P'-"Pnctois  of  the  Northwest 
Company.  He  invited  him  to  ascend  to  our  lodging,  which 
IZIVZ  ""'  ?'  tl"'^''"'!.  our  house  not  yet  being  rinished. 
^a  1  er  ''■,;'!  ""^''""""e-S  Mr.  Thompson  told  Ss  that  he 

e  f  H^^Mn  n  ,  '■"";'"■  "t  ^^'l^S  the  precediiig  winter  ;  but 
^i'„  r  .  r.  "f"."'  :•  ',""■'  """"  "»"»  had  obliged  him  to 
winter  at  t!ie  font  ot  the  mountains  near  the  head  of  the 
C(Mimbia  river ;  that  in  the  spring  he  had  built  a  canoe  and 
had  come  to  our  establislm„,.nt.  He  added  that  the  propr"- 
tors  wintcrin.  n  them  hud  resolved  toahand,)ndi  the  posts 
winch  hey  had  west  of  the  mountains,  rathert  la  e  tc  n  to 
competition  with  us,  on  condition  that  we  would  ponii^^ 
not  to  trouble  tliem  in  tUc  Uade  ou  the  easiernside;  imd  S 


sustain  what  ho  Raid  he  produced  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wi'Mnm 
McOrtlivr-iy  to  the  same  efTeot. 

"  Mr.  Thompson  kept,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  a  regular  jour- 
nal, and  travelled  ratfier  as  a  geographer  than  a  trader  in 
furs :  he  had  a  good  quadrant ;  and  during  a  sojourn  of  eioht 
days,  which  he  made  at  our  establishment,  he  liad  occasion 
to  make  s-everal  ustronomica:  observations." 

This  was  a  visit  of  great  moment  in  the  history 
of  Astoria,  and  in  the  consideration  of  the  British 
claim  to  the  Columbia,  which  has  lately  been 
brought  forward.  Mr.  Thompson  was  one  of  the 
Northwest  Company,  its  astronomer,  a  gentleman 
of  science  and  character,  to  whom  we  are  greatly 
indebted  for  fixing  important  geographical  posi- 
tions in  the  interior  of  North  America.  He  had 
crossed  the  continent  from  Montreal  simultaneously 
with  Mr.  Astor's  land  expedition  from  St.  Louis, 
but  in  a  higher  latitude,  and  arrived  a  few  days  be- 
fore It.  He  came  to  the  Columbia  to  give  the  in- 
formation to  Mr.  Astor's  agents  that  the  North- 
west Company,  to  avoid  competition  with  them, 
would  abandon  all  their  establishments  west  of 
the  Mountains,  provided  Mr.  Astor  would  not  in- 
terfere with  them  on  the  east.  This  proposal  was 
agreed  to.  The  valley  of  the  Columbia  was  left  to 
the  free  enjoyment  of  the  Americans;  and  the  ex- 
tension of  posts  to  the  mountains  went  on  without 
question  according  to  the  original  intention.  The 
Northwest  Company,  at  that  time,  no  more  than 
tlie  hntish  Government,  had  happened  yet  to  take 
It  into  Its  head  that  the  Columbia  river,  or  any 
part  of  It,  was  British  property, 

Mr.  Astor's  agents  proceeded  to  the  establish- 
ment of  interior  posts,  and  the  dispatch  of  parties 
to  hunt  and  trade  up  the  Columbia  to  the  moun- 
tains.    The  Okanakan,  about  six  hundred  miles 
up,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  at  the  mouth 
o  the  riyrr  of  that  name,  was  the  most  consider- 
able, and  was  remark-able  for  being  the  nearest  to 
the  British  establishments  in  New  Caledonia;  for 
by  that  name  the  valley  and  district  of  Frazer''=< 
river  was  then  known;  and  that  was  ten  years  be- 
fore Mr.  Harmon  pubhshed  his  book.    The  Spo- 
kan,  two  hundred  miles  higher  up,  and  on  the 
south  side,  w^as  established  at  the  same  time    The 
post  on  the  Wahlamath,  two  hundred  and  hfty 
miles  southeast  from  Astoria,  was  estabHshed  the 
next  year;  and  of  all  these  establishments  Mr 
1' ranchere  gives  a  particular  account,  which  it  is 
not  necessary  to  read  here.    The  country  was,  at 
the  same  time,  completely  penetrated  by  parties  of 
tradcns  and   hunters,    up   to   the   head-waters   of 
Clark  s  river,  and  of  Lewis's  river,  and  into  the 
Kocky  Mountains.      Two  years  everythino  had 
gone  on  without  interruption,  when  two  events  oc- 
curreo,  in  communicating  which  I  will  use  Mr 
Franchero's  own  words 


."  Ti  t-  .)th  of  J.inuary,  1813,  Mr.  Mackenzie  arrived  from 
his  estaldishment,  whicli  he  had  abandoned  after  having 
cacAWapar   of  his  effects.    He  came  to  announce  to  uf 

Un  t«7s  ;;lt"' T.  "'"''"'^  ""Tr"  •■^«"'  Britain  Ld  the 
vni,  •    f  '^  "?''■*  ''"''  ''^<=''  '"'ought  to  his  post  by 

some  gentlemen  bidoiigimr  to  the  Northwest  Company,  who 

lion  mi!ut''rtbct     "'''"''"'''"''  '"'-■  ^'^'^•^"""''«  i'rwiWa- 
"  On  learning  this  news  we  strongly  desired,  that  is,  nil  of 

T.C  '^"^"n"  "',""  \'"^'^  '^"S"^''  ""'•  t^anadians,  to  see  our- 
selves in  Canada;  but  we  could  not  even  perm  t  ourselves 
to  think  ot  it,atleastatpresent-we  were  8eparM,.d  from 
our  country  by  an  immense  space,  and  the  dilheuitiea  of 
U-avel  were  insurmountable  at  this  season.  We  held  then 
a  sort  of  council  of  war,  and,  after  having  thoroughly  weigh 
ed  Uie  crisis  m  >,'liicU  we  found  ourselves,  after  having  con- 


18 


gidcreil  BonouBly  thnt  nltliougli  we  were  nlmoat  nil  BrltiHh 
HUlilects,  wc  n<;vi'rt!ic!i,'Hs  trailed  umliT  th"  Amorimin  fliig, 
and  timl  wu  could  not  expect  a«sistiiiicc,  all  the  ports  ot  llio 
United  8lntesliciiii,'pr<il)iif)iyt)l(ickadid,wi!  decided  to  iitmii- 
don  the  CBUililisluneiil  by  the  followhiK  HprInK,  or  in  the  lie- 
ainning  of  summer  nt  tiirthcst.  We  did  not  tell  our  cnaneen 
of  this  resolve,  for  feiir  timt  tliey  iniRht  iilmiidoii  their  work 
ut  once,  but  wc  stopped  trndini,'  with  the  natives  from  thiit 
moment,  an  much  hc'canae  we  wi'rc  not  provided  with  a  larac 
supply  of  merchandise,  tn  that  we  had  more  lura  tliaii  wo 
could  carry  away." 

Here  is  nn  important  fact  stated,  that  of  hearing 
of  the  war  and  despaiiinp;  of  protection  from  the 
United  States.  The  agciita  of  Mr.  Astor,  upon  full 
consultation, determined  to  abandon  the  country. 

Mr.  Franchere  continues: 

"  Some  days  after  Mr.  Mackenzie's  departure,  wc  per- 
ceived, to  our  (ireat  surprise,  at  the  extremity  of  Tonuue 
Point,  two  canoes  carrying  the  BrilisU  fliur,  and  between 
them  another  bearing  that  of  America.  It  wan  Mr.  Macken- 
zie himBelf,  who  was  returning  with  Mcsfrs.  J.  (i.  Mel  av- 
ish  and  Angus  Bethune,  of  the  Northwest  Company,  lie 
had  met  these  gentlemen  near  the  Kapids,  and  had  deter- 
mined to  return  with  them  to  the  eetablisliment,  in  conse- 
uuence  of  the  news  which  they  had  given  liini.  They  were 
on  lizlit  canoes,  having  left  behind  them  Mea.-rs.  John  Stuart 
and  McMillan,  with  a  brigade  of  eight  canoes  loaded  with 

"  Mr.  McTavisli  camo  up  to  our  lodging,  and  showed  us  a 
letter  which  had  been  written  to  him  by  Mr.  A.  Shaw,  one 
of  the  acnt"  of  the  Northwest  Company.  This  gentleman 
announced  to  him  in  the  letter  that  tlie  sliip  Isaac  Todd  had 
«ailed  from  London  in  March,  in  company  W'th  the  trigate 
i'ha-be,  and  that  they  were  coming  by  order  ol  lh(^  *''"t:"'- 
ment  to  take  possession  of  our  establishment— this  establish- 
ment bein  ■  represented  to  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  as  mi 
important  colony  fouiidiMl  by  the  American  Government. 

"The  eight  canoes  which  had  been  left  behind  having 
joined  the  first,  a  camp  of  nearly  seventy-five  iiieii  wastonn- 
ed  nt  the  little  bay  near  our  cslablishmenf.  As  Ui<'y  were 
witliout  provisions,  wo  furnished  them  with  what  they  need- 
ed •  nevertheless  we  kept  on  our  guard,  for  fear  ot  some  sur- 
prise from  tliem,  for  we  were  much  inferior  to  them  in  num- 

l)Gr.  •  ■ 

"The  season  advancing,  and  their  vessels  not  nrnving, 
caused  them  to  find  their  situation  very  disagreeable ;  witli- 
oui  provision,  and  without  merchaiulise  to  procure  any  from 
the  natives,  who  looked  on  them  with  any  evil  eye,  having 
good  hunters  but  wanting  ammunition.  Tired  ot  recurring 
incessantly  to  us  for  iirovisions,  they  proposed  that  we  .-hould 
sell  thcin  our  establishment  and  its  contents.  Placed  in  the 
Mtuation  in  wliieli  we  were,  in  tlie  daily  expectation  of  see- 
ing an  English  inan-of-war  appear  to  t.-ikc  away  what  we 
polsessed,  we  listened  to  tlicir  propositions.  Wc  had  seve- 
ral consultations  ;  the  negotiati<ms  arew  wearily  ong ;  at 
length  they  agreed  on  the  price  of  the  furs  ant.  mercliandise, 
and  the  treaty  was  signed  bv  both  parties  on  the'2Jd  ol  Octo- 
ber The  gentlemen  of  tlie  Northweslern  Cuinpaiiy  took 
possession  of  Astoria,  having  agreed  to  pay  to  cacli  ot  f lie 
servants  of  the  ci-devant  l-aeilic  Fur  Company  (^nmw  cho- 
sen bv  Mr.  Astor)  the  amount  of  their  wages  in  tali,  dediiet- 
•  cil  from  the  price  of  the  goods  we  deliv:  red  to  them,  to  te.  d 
them,  and  to  furnish  a  passage  gratis  to  thosi!  among  them 
who  wished  to  return  to  Canada.  ,      ^      a 

"  It  was  thus,  that  after  having  crossed  seas  and  endured 
all  sorts  of  fatigues  mid  privations,  I  lost,  in  an  instant,  all 
■  my  hopes  of  forte.ne.    I  could  not  prevent  myself  tioi.i  re- 
marking, that  we  should  not  look  for  such  treatment  from 
1  e  British  Governmeul,  after  the  assurances  we  bad  rMciy- 
ed  tVom  his  aiaiesty's  Minister  before  we  left  New  York. 
But  as  I  iKUu;  just  said,  the  value  of  mir  trading-post  had  | 
been  much  exaggerated  to  the  Ministers;  for  il  tliey  had  , 
known  it.  they  surely  would  wit  have  taken  otlenee  at  it,  at  ^ 
iet^t  would  not  have  judged  it  worthy  of  a  maritime  expe- 
dition." 

This  ia  thp  manner  in  which  the  effects  of  Mr. 
Astor  passed  into  th6  hands  of  the  Northwest 
Company;  this  the  manner  in  which  they  became 
installed  in  the  valley  of  the  Coluinbia.  It  was  u 
purchase  of  goods  and  furs,  and  of  the  builditigs 
which  contained  them,  and  nothing  more.  Iso 
one  was  childish  enough  to  suppose  that  the  sov- 


ereignty of  the  country  was  or  could  have  been 
transfcired  as  an  appurtenance  to  the  skins  and 
blankets.  We  will  now  see  how  the  British  Gov- 
ernment obtained  possession  of  the  country: 


"  The  lath  of  November,  18i:i,  Messrs.  Alexander  Stuart 
and  Alexander  Henry,  both  proprietors  in  the  Northwest 
Company,  arrived  at  tin'  establishment  in  two  bark  canoes, 
manned  by  sixteen  voyngeurs.  These  gentlemen  had  leit 
Fort  William,  on  Lake  Superior,  in  July.  They  bint  us 
some  Canadian  newspapers,  by  which  wc  learned  that  tM(! 
British  arms  had  up  to  thnt  time  ko|it  the  ascendency. 
Tl.ey  also  confirmed  the  news  that  an  English  frigate  was 
to  come  and  fake  our  ci devant  esfablishment;  tliey  were 
even  very  much  surprised  not  to  see  the  Isaac  Todd  in  the 
harbor.  .     ,  ,     » ■  . 

'•  On  the  morning  of  the  3flth,  we  perceived  a  vessel  which 
was  doubling  Cape  Disappointment,  and  which  soon  an 
chored  In  Baker's  Bey.    Not  knowing  if  it  was  a  friendly 
vessel  or  otherwise,  we  thought  it  prudent  to  send  to  it  m  a 
canoe  Mr.  MeDongnll,  with  those  oftlio  men  who  bad  been 
in  the  service  of  tlie  ci-devant  P.  F.  C,  with  the  injunction 
to  call  themselves  Americans  if  the  ship  was  American,  and 
English  if  it  was  the  contrary.    Whilst  they  were  on  ilnir 
wav,  Mr.  McTuvish  had  all  the  furs  which  were  marked  with 
the'nnme  of  the  Northwe.n  Company  packed  uiHm  two  barges 
which  were  at  the  fort,  and  remounted  the  river  to  Tongue 
Point,  where  he  was  to  wait  for  a  signal  which  we  had 
agreed  upon.    Towards  midiiiglit  Mr.  Ilalsey,  who  had  ac- 
companied Mr.  McDougall  to  the  vessel,  returned  to  the 
fort,  and  .announced  to  lis  that  it  was  the  British  sloop  Rack- 
oon,  of  23  guns,  and  120  men  in  her  crew.  Captain  Black 
commanding.    Mr.  John  McDonald,  projirietorin  the  North- 
wen  Compaiiv.  had  come  as  passenger  in  the  Rackoon,  ac- 
companied by  five  cn^aiiis.    'i'liis  gentleman  had  left  Eng- 
land in  the  frigate  PlicBbe,  wliieli  bad  sailed  with  the  Isaac 
Todd  as  far  as  Rio  Janeiro.    Having  rejoined  there  an  Eng- 
lish stiuadrm,  the  Admiral  had  given  tlieni  for  convoy  the 
sloops  Rackoon  and  Cherub.    These  four  vessels  had  sailed 
in  enmpnny  to  Cape  Horn,  where  they  had  separated  after 
having  agreed  to  meet  at  the  island  of  Jiian  Fernandez. 
The  three  vessels  of  war  did  go  there ;  but,  after  haying 
waited  a  long  Uiiie  in  vain  for  the  Isaac  Todd,  Commodore 
Hillvnr,  who eimimanded  this  little  s(|Uadron,  having  learned 
fhat'fhe  American  Commodore  Porter  was  doing  great  daii,- 
a>'e  to  the  English  commerce,  especially  among  the  whalers 
which  frequented  these  seas,  he  resolved  to  go  and  hiid  hliii 
and  give  battle ;  giving  to  Captain  Black  orders  to  go  and 
destroy  the  American  establishment  of  the  Columbia  river. 
Conseiniently,  Mr.  McDonald  and  his  men  had  embarked  on 
the  Itackoon.    Tliis  gentleman  told  us  tlint  they  had  endured 
the  most  terrible  weather  in  doubling  Cape  Horn.     He 
thought  that  if  the  Isaac  Todd  bad  not  slackened  at  some 
spot  it  would  arrive  in  the  river  within  a  fortnight.    At  tlio 
agreed  signal.  Mr.  McTavish  returned  to  Astoria  with  hw 
furs,  and  learned  with  much  pleasure  tlie  arrival  of  Mr.  iMc- 
Dnnald. 

"  The  fim  of  December,  the  barge  of  the  corvette  can.c  to 
the  fort  Astoria  with  McDonald,  and  the  first  lieufenaiit, 
named  Sheriff.  As  there  were  on  the  Rackoon  goods  for  tiie 
Northwest  Company,  a  boat  was  sent  to  Baker's  Bay  to 
brill"  them  to  the  fort;  but  the  weather  was  so  bad  and  the 
wind  so  violent,  that  she  did  not  return  till  the  12tli  with  the 
goods,  bringing  also  witii  Captain  Black  five  marines  and 
four  sailors. 

"  We  regaled  our  hosts  with  .as  much  splendor  as  was 
possible.  Alter  dinner  the  Captain  had  firearms  given  to  the 
company's  servants ;  and  we  repaired,  thus  armed,  to  a  plat- 
form by  which  had  been  erected  a  dag-stntf.  There  tlic 
Captain  took  a  British  flag,  which  he  bad  brought  for  the 
purpose,  and  bad  it  hoisted  to  the  top  of  the  stall ;  and  then 
taking  a  bottle  full  of  Madeira,  he  broke  il  on  the  start',  de- 
cl.ariii"  in  a  loud  voice  that  he  took  possession  of  the  estab- 
lishiiient  and  the  country  in  the  name  of  his  British  Majesty ; 
and  lie  changed  the  name  of  Astoria  to  that  of  Fort  George. 
The  Indian  chiefs  had  been  assembled  to  witness  tliis  cere- 
iiioiiy,  and  I  explained  to  them  in  their  own  language  what 
it  meant.  They  fired  three  discharges  of  artillery  and  niuske'. 
Phot,  and  the  health  of  the  King  was  drank  according  to  the 
received  customs  in  such  cases.  . 

«  The  vessel  finding  itself  detained  by  contrary  winds, 
the  Captain  had  an  exact  survey  made  of  the  mouth  of  the 
river  and  the  channel  between  Baker's  Bay  and  ton 
George.  The  officers  came  frc(|iiently  to  see  us,  and  ap- 
peared to  mo  generally  to  be  very  much  discontented  with 
'  their  voyage;  they  had  evpected  to  meet  several  American 


19 


Vi'-idftlg  loiulcd  Willi  rich  fiirfi,  and  had  oulciil.it'id  hpfnnlwind 
(MnirNhiirr  in  thi:  tikini;  (irAstorin.  'I'huy  hnd  iiint  inithiiik, 
and  tlii'ir  u>t(iiii'ihiiiriil  wax  ill  ilH  liL'i).dil  wlit/ii  Miry  siiw  iiiir 
•■MtiililHhiiii'iit  hiid  been  triiiiiCcrri'd  to  thn  Nurthwoi-l  Ooin- 
puiiy,  iind  wiL>i  under  tho  nritiiih  Hiu;>  It  will  Ix;  tmllicii'iit 
lu  i|iiiiti!  Ciiptiiiii  itliirk'8  ex|ir(!i4Kloii  tn  hIiow  how  iiiiirh 
llicy  \v«r(!  iiiistski'ii  Willi  reniird  to  un,  This  ('Hiitiiiii  laiiiliil 
III  Ih*^  ii'Klit;  wlioii  wi!  showed  liiiii  llii;  iiiili-adcH  ol'  the 
Cftiililishinciit  in  tlu^  moriiinfi,  he  naked  it'  there  was  nut 
iinotlicr  fort;  nnd  hir'liig  leiimt  there  wiih  nut,  liu  erieil  oin, 
with  nil  air  of  the  (jri-atest  ii^tonisliineiit, '  VVlmt!  i^  this  the 
lort  represented  to  me  as  foniiidnhle  ?  (JondtJod!  I  could 
liatt'r  it  down  with  ii  tixir  plunder  in  two  hoiirri.' 

"The  Krenler  part  (d'  the  I'aeidr  Piir  Ooinpaiiy's  BPrvntifs 
rngagod  theniHelvoH  lo  the  Northwest  (.'oiii))ariy.  Home 
others  pret'rrred  retiiriiini?  to  their  coiiiitry,Hnd  I  wasnrtioiiK 
the  latter.  Nevertheli-Hs,  Mr.  MeTavisli  haviiii;  intiiimted 
to  mo  that  my  sorvici's  would  he  needed  nt  the  establisli- 
iiieiit,  I  enifnyed  myself  for  the  npnee  of  five  iiioiiths,  tliul  is 
tosay.nMtil  the  sottliiB  out  of  the  party  wliirh  was  to  nsoi-iid 
the  river  in  the  sprinu,  to  yo  lo  Canada,  hy  way  of  the 
ttocky  Mountains  luul  the  rivers  of  the  interior.  Messrs. 
John  Stuart  and  Mackenzie  lell  at  the  end  of  the  iiioiith,  the 
last  to  deliver  over  to  the  first  the  tradiiii;  i>o\Ih  which  had 
hecn  estahli!!licd  in  the  interior  by  the  before-inciitioiied 
company." 

This  is  the  way  'he  British  ^ot  possession  of  the 
Columbia — as  a  con(|iie8t — accom|wnif'd  by  all  the 
circumstances  of  a  national  act.  The  Lords  of 
the  Admiralty  in  London,  charged  with  the  naval 
operations  of  the  war,  plan  the  expedition,  and 
plan  it  against  the  colony  of  Mr.  Astor,  and  against 
It  as  an  important  American  colony.  They  des- 
patch a  ship  of  war  from  London  to  join  a  squad- 
ron in  the  Pacific  to  attack  the  colony.  A  ship 
from  the  squadron  arrives;  finds  the  goods  and 
furs  sold;  is  enraged  at  tiie  loss  of  the  booty,  but 
finds  the  American  sovereignty  of  the  country  re- 
maining in  the  form  of  a  little  fort;  takes  posses- 
.sion  of  it  as  a  British  conquest;  runs  up  the  Brit- 
ish flag;  christens  it  in  a  bottle  of  rum;  and  agents 
are  sent  ofi"  to  the  Okenakan,  the  Spokan,  and 
Walilan'.ith,  to  deliver  up  the  dependant  posts, 
and  with  them  the  whole  valley  of  the  Columbia: 
as  a  conquest  the  British  took  it;  as  a  conquest 
they  held  it;  as  a  conquest  they  agreed  to  restore 
it  under  the  Ghent  treaty.  And  here  I  will  answer 
a  question  which  has  been  put  to  me:  Does  tlie 
right  of  restoration  extend  to  the  whole  valley  of 
the  Columbia  river,  or  only  to  the  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.'  I  answer,  the  whole  valley; 
and,  to  parley  about  anything  less  is  to  sufler  our- 
>?elves  to  be  bamboozled  and  disgraced. 

\  here  cease  my  readings  from  Mr.  Francherc, 
.-satisfied  that,  upon  his  testimony,  I  have  made  out 
the  fullest  and  most  authentic  case  of  unqualified 
British  admissions,  by  acts,  of  our  title  to  the 
Columbia.  To  these  admissions  by  acts  I  will  now 
udd  admis.sions  by  words.  For  it  so  happens  that 
nt  the  Ume  of  the  negotiations  of  18:23,  at  the  time 
we  were  offering  fifty-five  to  the  British  foranorlh- 
t-rn  boundary,  and  fifty-one  for  a  southern,  the 
))arallel  of  forty-nine  was  the  most  southern  one  to 
which  her  claims  extended.  This  was  under.stood 
and  agreed  upon  by  both  parties  in  1818, 1820,  and 
1823;  and  here  is  the  evidence  of  it  in  documents 
of  unimpeachable  authority.  I  read  first  from  Mr. 
Adams  to  Mr.  Rush,  July  22d,  1823: 

'•  Previous  to  the  re^toration  of  the  settlement  nt  the 
mouth  of  the  Cohiiiibia  river  in  1818,  and  agRiii  upon  the  lirst 
introduction  in  Congress  of  the  plan  for  coiustitutin!;  a  terri- 
torial sovomnient  there,  some  disposition  was  manifested 
by  Sir  Charles  Ba^ot  nnd  Mr.  '^annins;  (Minister  at  VVash- 
jiiaton)  to  dispute  the  ri^h'  lo  United  Stat(!3  to  that 

<>-t.iWishinent,aiid  some  va;;;.,       .niaiiou  wasgivcii  of  Biit- 


i>ih  claims  on  tl;e  northwest  con-t.  The  lOiioration  of  t!in 
place,  and  the  eonvenlion  of  1818,  vvcrrc(ii.,.idercd  ns  n  flniil 
disposal  of  y.T.  IliiKol's  iibjeeii>>iis;  and  Mr.  ('aiiiiiiif(  de- 
clined coiiiiiiittiiig  In  paper  Uiohc  which  he  had  intiiniued  in 
conversation." 

Two  dates  and  a  great  fact  arc  here  mentioned, 
with  l)otli  of  which  1  was  contemporary,  and,  my 
writings  of  the  time  will  prove,  not  an  inattentive 
observer.  The  nominal  restoration  of  the  Colum- 
bia, which  was,  in  fact,  an  empty  ceremony,  and 
the  non-execution  of  the  Ghent  treaty,  in  favor  of 
the  west,  as  it  had  happened  before  in  the  non-ex- 
ecution of  treaties,  which  required  British  western 
posts  to  be  given  un.  That  is  one  date.  The  in- 
troduction of  Dr.  Floyd's  Oregon  bill  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  in  1820- '21,  is  another  of  those 
dates,  and  of  which  i  know  something.  The  great 
fact  is,  and  my  speech  of  1824  will  show  tnat  I 
knew  something  of  that,  is  the  vi\gue  intim«tion  of 
British  claims  to  the  Columbia  at  that  time,  the  re- 
fusal of  the  Minister  to  write  them  down,  and  their 
utter  and  entire  abandonment ! 

This  was  done  expressly  by  Mr.  Canning,  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  to  Mr.  Rush,  in 
London,  in  1823,  of  which  Mr.  Rush's  despatch 
of  the  I'Jth  January,  1824,  bears  witness.  Here 
it  is: 

"  rt  was  an  omission  in  nie  )int  to  liave  stntcd  in  my  com- 
munication of  the  6th  instant  what  are  to  be  the  claims  of 
(Jicat  Britain  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America,  though  as 
yet  Mr.  Canning  has  not  made  tlioni  known  lo  me  formally. 
She  will  claiii',  [  under-taiid,  to  a  point  northwards  ubovo 
.55,  thoiu?h  how  much  above  it  I  am  not  now  able  to  say,  and 
southwards  as  low  down  as  49.  Whether  she  designs  to 
piifh  ft  claim  to  the  whole  of  this  space  with  earnestness,  I 
am  also  unable  as  yet  to  say,  but  wait  the  more  full  and  ac- 
eur.ite  disclo^^re  of  her  views." 

Thus,  ov  the  19th  day  of  January,  in  the 
YEAR  1824,  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  was  the 
furthest  south  to  which  the  British  Minis- 
ter, Mr.  Canning — a  Minister  of  head,  and  of 

FORTY    years'    experience    IN    PUBLIC    AFFAIRS 

PR0P0,<!ED  TO  PUSH  THE  BRITISH  CLAIM. 

After  this  authentic  and  express  admission  of 
Mr.  Canning,  the  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain 
in  1824,  it  is  hardly  excusable  to  have  recourse  to 
secondary  or  inferior  testimony,  however  persua- 
sive or  convincing  that  testimony  may  be.  But  I 
have  still  a  piece  of  British  testimony  in  hand  suffi- 
ciently respectable  to  bo  quoted  after  Mr.  Canning, 
nnd  sufticicntly  coincident  in  time  and  terms  to 
identify  the  Minister's  answer  with  public  opinion 
at  the  time,  that  the  extent  of  the  British  claims 
stated  to  Mr.  Rush  in  January,  18,24,  was  the 
opinion  of  the  public  as  well  as  of  the  Minister.  It 
is  found  in  the  London  Gluanerly  Review,  October 
number,  1822.  It  is  in  tiiscus.sing  the  boundaries 
of  New  Caledonia,  for  which  he  proposes  on  the 
south  thf;  line  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  sea: 

"Another  river,  called  the  Caledonia,  (Fiazer's,)  holdins; 
a  parallel  course  to  the  Tacoutclie  'J'e.-se,  (Columbia,)  falls 
into  tlie  sea  near  the  Admiralty  Inlet  of  Vancouver,  in  lati- 
tude 48,  and  forms  a  natural  boundarj' between  Uio  new  ter- 
ritory (Western  Caledonia)  nnd  that"  of  the  United  States, 
and  talliiif!  in  precisely  with  a  coiilinned  line  with  thesami! 
parallid  with  the  Lake  of  the  Wof)ds,aiid  leavins  about  two 
dtgieos  iirialiUide  between  it  and  tiie  Cokimbia." 

So  said  the  duarterly  Review  in  January,  1822, 
No.  72,  articb  "Western  Caledonia." 

I  sat  out  to  establish,  upon  the  admissions  of 
Great  Britain  herself,  our  right  to  the  Columbia 
river  and  its  valley.    I  have  done  more.    I  liave 


20 


^ 


cstal)li8hcd  her  iidmission  to  the  hne  of  49,  ffiving 
UM  near  three  dpsjrecs  on  the  const,  thn  v.iUmlilri 
waters  about  the  Straits  of  Fuca  and  Pnfjct's  Sound, 
and  tlie  whok  Olynipi^diHirict,  no  part  of  uU  which 
is  in  the  valley  of  the  C.jiiii.um. 

We  thus  see  that,  in  1H"J4,  the  British  Govern- 
ment, t)y  authentic  acts,  and  by  the  langun!;e  of 
Mr.  Canninf,',  admitted  our  ri'Mu  to  the  river  and 
valley  of  the  ('()luml)ia;  and,  what  wa»  better,  lim- 
ited their  claim  to  49.  At  the  .^ame  time  we  see 
that  our  Government  was  ollcriuf,'  49;  so  that  the 
twoGovernment^•  were  of  accord,  and  the  (lucMiion 
is,  why  they  did  not  aj;rec  ?  The  documents  fur- 
nish the  answer  to  this  question,  and  a  siraiifjc 
answer  it  is.  Nothing  else  than  a  love  of  partner- 
ships, and  a.  desire  to  go  into  partnership  with 
Russia  and  Great  Britain  in  the  use  of  all  the  coun- 
try beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  each  enjoying 
the  use  of  the  whole  in  common  with  the  others, 
and  the  title  to  remain  in  abeyance.  The  Emperor 
of  Russia,  like  a  wise  man,  declined  all  share  in 
this  mixed  concern,  got  his  own  part  laid  ofl"  to 
himself,  and  has  enjoyed  it  ever  since  in  peace  and 
quietness.  The  British  Government,  like  anotlicr 
wise  man,  accepted  our  proposal,  went  into  part- 
nership with  ua,  took  the  use  of  the  whole  to  her- 
self, and  now  claims  it  as  her  own.  We  were  the 
the  only  unwise  in  the  transaction,  and  our  im- 
providence, so  visible  to  everybody  now,  seen  only 
by  myself  then,  evidently  re.sulted  from  the  under- 
estimate of  the  country,  which  was  then  so  univer- 
sal. By  our  proposal  of  partnership,  we  prevented 
the  settlement  of  the  boundary,  and  put  a  Tower 
stronger  than  ourselves  in  possession  of  our  prop- 
erty—a  Pov.'er  which  has  kept  it  so  long  that  it 
begins  to  dream  that  it  is  its  own;  and  now  we  are 
raising  fleets  and  armies,  and  preparin,"'  to  set  the 
four  corners  of  the  world  on  fire,  to  get  him  out 
at'ain.  I  had  had  the  vanity  to  denounce  it  the  day 
llirst  heard  of  it,  in  the  year  1818,  and  thought  1 
was  doing  something.  I  even  published  my  denun- 
ciation in  articles  which  I  deemed  quite  sensible, 
and  expected  to  make  a  great  sensation.  On  the 
contrary,  not  one  responsive  note  was  obtained 
from  the  thousand  newspapers  which  the  United 
States  contained;  and  I  round  myself  as  solitary 
then  in  advance  of  the  public  as  1  am  now  behind 

it.  ,  •  ,  , 

I  trust  that  I  have  made  good  our  title,  and 
that  upon  British  admissions,  to  the  Columbia 
river  and  its  valley,  modified  by  the  line  of  Utrecht. 
Up  to  that  line,  if  it  becomes  necessary,  I  am  wil- 
lin"-  to  fight;  but,  before  fighting',  I  want  to  talk  — 
to  talk  understandingly,  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
subject— and  to  talk  righteously,  with  the  great 
maxim  before  me:  Ask  nothing  but  what  is  right- 
submit  to  nothing  that  is  wrong.  Upon  this  pvin- 
r.iple  I  have  now  spoken,  whether  wisely,  it  is  not 
for  me  to  say;  but  it  is  not  newly— it  is  not  new 
talk  with  me.  Twenty-eight  years  ago,  I  wrote 
what  I  now  speak.  Eighteen  years  ago,  and  wlien 
I  had  already  been  eight  years  a  member  of  this 
body,  i  submitted  a  resolution  in  n-hunn  to  this 
Oregon  question,  which  I  have  seen  no  reason  to 
retract  or  modify  since  that  time,  and  which  may 
stand  for  the  text  of  my  speech  this  day.  It  was 
in  these  words: 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  not  expedient  for  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  to  treat  wiUi  his  Britannic  Majesty  la  ref- 


errnco  to  tlieir  tcrriloriiil  plainw  find  boundnrlos  Wf (tt  of  thr 
Rncky  Moiintniin,  ii|Min  thi'  hiinis  of  ii  iohit  ormiiation  hy 
the  citi/i'iiH  of  thi'  l/iiil' il  HlaliH  iiiid  !<uiijiils  urUri'iit  Hrit 
iiln  of  thi!  country  il.iiiiifil  by  I'licli  l*ow«r. 

"  Iica.)livil,  ThiUitl»<'X|ii'(lii'nl  for  the  (inv  'rniiicnl  of  llir 
IJmIiciI  HtatciH  to  tn  nt  with  his  Britniinic  MiiJcMty  in  refl'r- 
encc  to  their  ^niil  rlnini''  nrid  honnd»rl"s,  i/pon  the  liii'iH  ofu 
iK'imrntion  of  liitermt-",  nnil  tlie  rgtaliliNliiuent  of  the  lUtli 
d(!i{riH'  of  iiortli  lutltuili'  ii»  ii  iicrniiintMit  boundary  iH.'twecii 
tliem,  in  llie  Mliort(!i't  posi-ililc  thm." 

It  was  in  the  Bession  of  lH27-'28,  and  before  the 
ratification  of  the  second  partnership  convention — 
the  one  we  are  now  determined  to  get  riil  of  even 
at  the  price  of  war — and  with  the  view  of  iirevtnt- 
ing  the  ratification  of  that  convention,  that  this 
resolution  wa.i  submitted.  It  presented  my  view 
of  the  settlement  of  this  question,  namely,  no  part- 
nerships, the  immediate  establishment  of  a  bound- 
ary, and  the  49th  parallel  for  that  boundary.  They 
are  my  views  now;  and ,  having  said  enough  against 
partnerships,  and  enough  in  fav.>r  of  settling  upon 
?iome  line,  I  go  on  to  give  my  reasons  in  favor  of 
that  of  forty-nine. 

It  is  tlie  line  which  parts,  more  suitably  than  a 
line  following  their  high  lands  could  do  it,  the  val- 
leys of  the  Columbia  and  of  Frnzcr's  river,  saving 
to  us  all  our  discoveries  and  settlements  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  leoving  to  the  British 
the  wIioIp  of  '  -)ira.  It  is  a  continuation  of  the 
line  on  this  side  of  the  mountains— a  line  which 
happens  to  conform  to  the  geographical  features  of 
the  continent  on  this  side  of  the  mountains,  and 
equally  so  on  the  other.  On  this  side,  it  pnrts  the 
two  systems  of  waters,  one  of  which  belongs  to 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  other  to  the 
basin  of  Hudson's  Bay;  on  the  other  side,  it  parts 
the  system  of  waters  which  belong  to  the  valley  of 
the  Columbia  from  thost  which  belong  to  Frazer's 
river,  cutting  ofl'  the  heads  of  a  few  streams,  of 
about  equarvahie  on  each  hand.  It  is  the  line  of 
Utrecht— a  line  which  will  now  be  denied  but  by 
few— and  to  which  few  nothing  more  on  this  point 
will  ever  be  said  by  me.  It  is  the  Hne  of  right, 
resulting  from  the  treaty  of  Utrecht;  and  as  such 
always  looked  to,  in  the  early  stages  of  this  con- 
troversy, both  by  British  and  American  statesmen,, 
as  the  ultimate  line  of  settlement  and  boundary 
between  the  countries.  It  is  the  Hne  of  right,  re- 
sulting from  the  said  treaty  of  Utrecht,  up  to 
which  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  despatch  to  Mr.  Middle- 
ton,  of  July  19,  18-J3,  alleged  an  "  unquestionable 
title"  to  extend;  for  only  upon  that  treaty  could  a 
lino  of  "  unquestionable  title"  be  averred.  On  any 
other  basis,  it  could  only  be  a  line  of  convention — 
a  conventioi5al  line  of  mutual  agreement;  and  Mr. 
Adams  was  not  a  man  to  confound  two  things  so 
diirerent  in  their  nature.  It  is  the  best  line  for  us; 
for  it  gives  ua  nil  the  waters  of  Puget's  Sound  and 
Bellingham's  Bay— I  do  not  say  the  Straits  of 
Fuca,  (for  those  straits,  Hke  a:ll  the  other  great 
straits  in  the  world,  are  part  of  the  high  seas,  and 
incapable  of  self-appropriation  by  any  nation;)  it 
gives  us  these  waters,  and  with  them  the  pictur- 
esque and  fertile  squr.re,  of  more  than  ti  hundred 
miles  every  way,  lying  between  the  iStiails  ol  Fuca 
and  the  Columbia,  and  between  the  Pacific  coast 
and  the  Cascade  range  of  mountains,  and  of  which 
Mount  Olympus,  near  the  centre,  is  the  crowning 
ornament,  and  from  which  the  whole  district  de- 
rives its  classic  name  of  Olympic. 


^ 


21 


1 


1 


All  thm  the  line  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  cfivcB 
UH,  Wliic.h  tlu;  lino  of  tlic  viiltuy  of  the  Coluinliiu 
would  not;  for  timt  river  has  no  vulley  nt  its  mouth, 
and  enters  the  seti  through  iv  gap  in  tho  iron-bound 
coiiNt.     The  viillny  of  that  river  is  a  fun  expund- 
rd,  the  spreading  part  in  the  Rocky  MounUiinN, 
the  Imndlc  in  the  sea.     It  la  the  best  line  for  the 
iJriiish,  for  it  gives  thcni  the  upper  part  of  the 
north  fork  of  the  Columbifi,  where  it  heads  oppo- 
site  the   Atiuibasca  and    Saskutcliiwine— Hrilish 
rivers,  and  covered  by  British   posts — and  from 
ull  which  the  valiey  of  Frazer'n  river  would  be 
cut  off  from  cominuniciition   if   the   head  of  the 
Columbia  remained  in  our  hatids,  just  as  IIi«liftix 
was  cut  off  from  Q,uebrc  by  the  northern  waters 
of  the  St.  John's.      Thus,  the  line  of  right— 
the  line  of  Utrecht — is  the  best  for  both  parliea, 
giving  to  each  what  is  convenient  and  necessary 
to  it,  (for  the  trian;;lc  at  the  head  of  the  Colum- 
bia is  as  necessary  to  them  us  the  Olympic  square 
is  to  us,)  and  taking  from  each  a  detached  dis- 
trict, of  little  value  except  for  annoyance.     The 
British  cuuld  annoy  us  in  the  Olympic  district;  we 
could  annoy  them  at  the  head  of  the  Columbia ; 
but  why  do  it,  except  upon  the  principle  of  laying 
eggs  to  hatch  future  disputes?  upon  the  Maehiavcl- 
iiui  principle  of  depositmg  the  seeds  of  a  new  con- 
testation while  as.suming  to  settle  the  mischiefs  of 
an  old  one?    Forty-nine  is  the  line  which  Mr. 
Jefferson  proposed  in  1807,  us  I  have  shown  here- 
tofore to  the  Senate.     It  is  the  line  of  which  Mr. 
Gallatin  and  Mr.  Rush  said  in  1818: 

"The  forly-niiilli  <lcgre(^  of  iiiirtli  latitude  liail,  in  pur- 
snntici'  of  tlip  tri'iity  nf  Utrecht,  been  fixL'd,  iadcfiniKly,  na 
the  line  between  the  British  niirlhcrii  posBi'sf-icjiis  and  those 
of  Kriiiici',  includini;  Louisiana,  now  a  (lart  of  onr  territo- 
ries. Tliere  was  no  reusoui  wliy,  if  the  two  conntries  ex- 
ti.'iidtd  their  chiiins  we.-.twrtid,  tlie  «amc  line  siumld  not  be 
contiiMied  to  tlie  Pucifio  Ocisui.  So  f:ir  us  discovery  !?ivi'!iii 
t.'laiin,  oiir.4  to  the  wliole  roantiy  on  the  waters  of  the  Co- 
lumbia river  wan  indispuiaWt!." 

It  is  the  line  of  ull  tlie  Amerirnn  statesmen, 
without  exception,  twenty  and  forty  years  aj^o.  It 
was  the  line  of  Mr.  Canning  in  1823.  It  is  the 
line  for  the  rejection  of  which  by  Mr.  Pakenhum, 
without  reference  to  his  Government,  Sir  R()l)ert 
Peel  has  lately,  and  publicly,  and  in  the  face  of 
the  world,  expressed  regret.  It  is  a  line  which  we 
have  never  presented  as  an  ultimatum;  which  wo 
have  often  proposed  gently,  and  which  the  British 
have  as  often  gently  shoved  aside,  because  they 
saw,  from  our  own  coetaneous  propositions,  that 
they  could  do  better,  and  get  the  whole,  at  least  for 
a  long  time,  under  our  own  delusive  project  of 
joint  usufruction.  But  now  all  this  gentle  and  de- 
lusive work  is  done  with.  The  joint  use  is  to 
terminate — events  ac'vance — and  the  question  must 
be  settled  now  by  reason  and  judgment,  or  it  will 
soon  settle  itself  by  chance  antf  arms.  Forty-nine 
is  the  line  of  right  with  me;  and,  acting  upon  the 
uecond  half  of  the  great  maxim,  Si;r.MiT  to  xotu- 
iMG  wrong!  I  shall  submit  to  no  invasion  or  en- 
croachment upon  that  line. 

Senators  may  now  see  the  reason  wliy,  f'lr 
twenty -five  years,  I  have  adhered  to  the  line  of 
Utrecht.     It  is  the  line  of  right,  which  gives  to 


Mr.  n.  having  spoken  until  half  past  three  o'clock 
P.  M.,  without  concluding,  gave  way  for  a  motion 
to  go  into  Executive  session. 


Mr. 


TiitjRMDAT,J»fai/28,  1846. 
Prkhidf.nt:  In  tlie  progress  of  my  speech 


I  find  another  little  bit  of  rubbish  in  my  puth, Just 
thrown  into  it  from  the  other  side  of  the  sea — from 
London — which  I  must  dear  away  before  I  pro- 
ceed nirther.     It  is  in  (he  form  of  an  article  in  the 
London  Times  newspaper.    A  friend  has  just  sent 
me  some  numbers  of  that  pajier,  in  which  a  fu- 
rious war  is  waged  upon  the  Utrecht  line  of  4iP, 
motived  by  the  conversational  debate  which  took 
place  in  this  chamber  some  two  months  ago,  and 
in  which  the  Senator  from  Michigan  [Mr,  Cass] 
ami  myself  were  sfieukers,  and  in  which  the  ex- 
istence, or  non-existence,  oPthnt  line  was  the  point 
of  contestation.    The  Times  takes  part  with  the 
Senator  from  Michigan,  and  (carries  into  his  sub- 
ject the  usual  quantity  of  his  fiery  zeal.     It  so 
"happens,  Mr.  Presidenti  that  I  possess  a  very  deli- 
cute  scent,  and  smell  things,  especially  of  the  rat 
species,  at  an  imtnense  distance.    So,  when  I  read 
these  articles  in  the  Times,  I  smelt  them — smelt  the 
beaver  that  was  in  them  !  and,  the  scent  coming 
upon  me  very  strong,  I  was  struck  with  an  idea. 
It  was  the  same  which  struck  the  worthy  Dr. 
Primrose  the  second  time  that  he  met  the  accom- 
plished Ephraim  Jcnkinson,  and  heard  from  him 
a  second  rehearsal  of  his  greek  learning  on  the 
cosmogany,  or  creation  of  the  world.     "  Pardon 
me  sir,  said  the  Doctor,  for  interrupting  so  much 
learning,  but  I  think  I  have  heard  all  this  before." 
The  apparition  of  the  fair,  with  all  the  catastro- 
phe of  the  colt  and  blackberry,  immediately  rose 
upon  the  mental  vision  of  the  learned   commen- 
tator on  Sunconiathon,  Manetho,   Lucellus  Oca- 
nus,  and  Berosus.      Seeing  he   was   caught,  he 
confessetl;    for  Jenkinson   had   some   redeeming 
points  about  him,  and  never  lied  when  there  waa 
no  use  in  it.     He  confessed  the  whole;  and  the 
Doctor's  "  idea"  received  the  seal  of  its  confirma- 
tion from  his  candor.    In  like  manner,  I  must  beg 
he  pardon  of  the  editor  of  the  Times,  with  the 
suggestitm  that  I  have  seen  all  this  Utrecht  Icarn- 
inn-    before;    that   it    is    an    old   acquaintance  of 
mme;  all  familiar  to  me  from  the  time  that  Presi- 
dent Jefferson's  governor  of  Louisiana  drove  the 
British  traders  across  the  line  of  Utrecht — across 
49 — and  kcjit  them  there,  regardless  of  all  their 
cries  and  lamentations.     I  recognised  this  old  ac- 
quaintance   in  these  new  articles  in  the  Times — 
nothing  changed  in  spirit,  only  in  form. 

Tlie  Earl  of  Selkirk,  and  his  associate  sufferers, 
in  forensic  language,  confessed  and  avoided;  that 
is  to  say,  they  admitted  the  line  of  Utrecht,  but 
plead  its  abrogation  by  war,  and  its  supersedeas  by 
the  consent  and  connivance  of  the  Spaniards;  but 
the  new  articles,  improved  by  the  intrepidity,  if 
not  by  the  profundity,  of  Groenhow's  book,  (ac- 
!!Ti!iiei!  !\Ti  it,  is  !!!',  tills;  floor  by  the  Senator  from 
Michigan,)  boldly  take  the  short  cut  to  the  object, 
and  now  deny,  out  and  out,  what  was  confessed 
us  the  Olympic  district  and  its  invnhiablo  waters,  I  and  avoided  before.  In  other  respects,  the  Times 
and  secures  to  us  the  river  and  valley  of  the  Co-J  articles  now,  are  the  memorials  of  the  British  fur- 
lumbia.  It  is  the  fighting  line  of  the  United  SUilcs.  1  traders  at  the  e^toch  of  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana, 
The  Union  can  be  rallied  on  that  line !  and  the  expulsion  of  these  traders  from  it  by  virtue 


22 


mm 

3»¥ 


of  the  Ulreclil  line  of  49.  And  now  I  wnnt  to 
ONk  the  Senator  from  Micliisriin  [Mr.  Caih)  if,  nt 
FCL'iiig  liimHilf  thus  np|iliiudi«l  l)y  thi;  I.ondon 
Times,  he  does  not  feel  tcnini.-d,  lik«i  tlif  Aihi-niaii 
of  old  ut  neein;^  hini.wirapplniidi'd  liya  nOililc  tlint 
ho  despised,  to  turn  round  to  his  friftulH,  and  UJtk 
whut  he  had  done  luiiiHS  to  hrin;;  this  ajip'ause  upon 
liin».>     [Mr.  Cach  ii'iddcd  a.ssent.)     I  can  tell  him 


wiiat  he  iinH  done  amins:  he  lian  taken  the  BritiHli 
fur-truderH*  Hide  of  the  line  of  Utrecht.  And  as  for 
the  editor  of  the  Times,  if  he  wishes  lijSfht  on  the 
Buhject,  I  can  refer  him  to  aiuhentic  sources  of  in- 
formation juNt  at  his  hand,  namely:  the  Kinj;'.s 
map,  with  the  Utrecht  line  upon  it,  u.s  well  ns  the 
Maine  boundary  line  upon  it,  (all  written  in  the 
old  King's  own  hand,)  whiih  ho  marvellou.sly dis- 
upjjeared  from  the  Korei^jn  Otfne  at  the  time  of  the 
ABlihurton  treaty;  and  ulso  to  the  thin  quarto,  with 
rededge8,printed  at theeornerof  St.  Martin's  Lnne, 
CharingCro.sM,  London,  anno  Domini  MDCCLII I, 
prepared  by  Thomas  Jeffreys,  Esq.,  Geographer  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  nitended  for  the  inslruc- 
tion  of  the  hcir-npnarenl  to  the  dominions  whose 
boundaries  he  was  defining  to  him.  Upon  Jenkin- 
son'B  principle,  the  Times  editor  should  confe.s.s, 
after  seeing  tliis  map  of  George  the  Third,  and  this 
geography,  in  which  that  king  studied  the  bound- 
aries of  his  dominions. 

This  bit  of  rubbish  being  removed  from  my  path, 
I  now  go  on  with  my  subject. 

"The  value  of  the  country— I  mean  the  Columbia 
river  and  its  valley — (1  must  rejieat  the  limitation 
every  time,  lesc  1  be  carried  up  to  .')4'^  40') — has 
been  questioned  on  this  Hoor  and  elsewhere.  It 
has  been  supposed  to  be  of  little  value—hardly 
worth  the  pos.session,  much  less  the  acquisition; 
and  treated  rather  as  a  burden  to  I)e  got  rid  of,  than 
ns  a  benefit  to  be  preserved.  This  is  a  great  error, 
and  one  that  only  prevails  on  this  side  of  the  water: 
the  British  know  better;  and  if  they  held  the  tithe 
of  our  title,  they  would  fight  the  world  for  what 
we  depreciate.  It  is  not  n  worthless  country, 
but  one  of  immense  value,  and  that  under  many 
aspects,  and  will  be  occupied  by  others,  to  our  in- 
jury and  annoyance,  if  not  by  ourselves  for  our 
own  benefit  and  protection.  Forty  years  ago  it 
was  written  by  HumljoUlt,  that  the  banks  of  the 
Columbia  presented  the  only  situation  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  America  fit  for  the  residence  of  a  civ- 
ilized people.  Experience  has  confirmed  the  truth 
of  this  wise  remark.  All  tlie  rest  of  the  coast,  from 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  out  to  New  Archangel,  (and 
nothing  but  a  fur  trading  jiost  there,)  remains  a  va- 
cam  waste,  abandoned  since  the  quarrel  of  Nootka 
Sound,  and  become  the  derelict  of  nations.  The 
Columbia  only  invii  .s  a  possessor;  and  for  that 
possession,  sagacious  British  diplomacy  has  been 
long  weaving  Its  web.  T*  is  not  a  worthless  jtos- 
session;  but  valuubie  uu  .ei  many  and  large  as- 
pects; to  the  consideratic.:'   f  some;  uf  which  I  now 

proceed.  ,     •  ,    ,  .    j 

It  is  vaUuiiik ,  botli  as  u  r-untry  to  :>(:  iriiutoitea, 
and  as  a  jx)sition  to  b,;  'ield  and  defended.  I  speak 
of  it,  first,  as  a  position,  commanding  the  North 
Pacific  ocean,  and  overlooking  the  eastern  coast  of 
Asia.  The  North  Pacific  is  a  rich  sea,  and  is 
already  the  seat  of  a  great  >  ommerce:  British, 
French,  American,  Russian,  and  ships  of  other 
nations,  frequent  it.     Our  whaling  ships  cover  it: 


our  ships  of  war  go  there  lo  protect  our  ininrejl; 
and,  great  ns  that  interest  now  is,  it  is  only  the  he 
ginning.  Futurity  will  ilevelop  nn  immense,  and 
various,  commerce  on  that  sea,  of  which  the  far 
greater  part  will  he  American.  T!n\t  commerce, 
neither  ni  the  merchant  «hi|>s  which  carry  it  on, 
nor  in  the  military  marine  which  proteclM  it,  can 
find  a  port,  to  call  its  own,  within  twenty  thousaml 
miles  of  the  field  of  its  operations.  The  doul)le 
length  of  the  two  Amoncan  has  lo  be  run— a 
stormy  and  tempestuous  cape  to  be  doubled — to 
find  it.scif  in  a  jiort  of  its  own  country:  whde  lure 
lies  one  in  the  very  edge  of  its  field,  ours  by  right, 
ready  for  use,  and  ttm|de  for  every  jiurpose  of  re- 
fuge and  repair,  pn>tcction  and  domination.  Can 
we  turn  our  back  upon  it?  and,  in  turning  the 
back,  deliver  it  up  to  the  British?  Insane,  and 
suicidal  would  be  the  fatal  act! 

To  May  nothing:  of  the  daily  want  of  such  a  port 
in  time  of  pence,  its  want,  in  time  of  war,  becomes 
ruinous.     Commodore  Porter  has  often  told  mc 
that,  with  protection  from  batteries  in  the  mouth 
of  the  C<)!un>l)ia,  he  never  would  have  put  himself 
in  a  condition  to  be  attacked  under  the  weak,  or 
collusive  guns  of  a  neutral  port.     He  has  told  me 
that,  with  such  a  port  for  the  nsception  of  his 
prizes,  he  would  not  have  sunk  in  the  ocean,  or 
hid  in  islands  where  it  was  often  found,  the  three 
millions  of  British  property  captured  in  his  three 
years  daring  and  dauntless  crui.se.     Often  has  he 
told  me,  that,  with  such  a  i)ort  at  his  hand,  he 
would  never  have  been  driven  to  spill  upon  the 
waters,  that  oil,  for  want  of  which,  as  a  member 
of  tlie  British  Parliament  said,  London  had  burnt 
diirkly— had  been  in  the  dark— for  a  whole  year. 
What  happened  to  Commodore  Porter  and   his 
prizes— wiiat  hapi)ened  to  all  our  merchant  ships, 
driven  from  the  North  Pacific  during  the  war— all 
this  to  happen  again,  and  upon  a  far  larger  scale, 
is  but  half  the  evil  of  turning  our  backs  now  upon 
this  commanding  position;  for,  to  do  so,  is  to  deli- 
ver it  into  the  hands  of  a  Power  that  knows  the 
value  of  positions- the  four  quarters  of  the  globe, 
and  our  own  coasts  attest  that — and  has  her  eye 
on  this  one.     Tlie  very  year  after  the  renewal  of 
the  delusive  convention  of  1818— in  the  year  18-29— 
a  master  ship-carpenter  was  despatched  from  Lon- 
don to  Fort  Vancouver,  to  begin  there  the  repair 
of  vessels,  and  even   the   ci'tistruction  of  small 
on'  s;  a  id  this  work  has  been  ;.■;  .>inL:_  n  ever  since. 
She  resists  our  possessio  i  now'     It"  ve  abandoi  . 
she  will  retain!    And  h    •  ,^o^,(!ca  walls,  bristling 
with  cannon,  and  issuing' from  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  will  give  the  law  to  the  North  Pacific, 
permitting  our  ships  to  sneak  about  in  time  of 
peace— sinking,  seizing,  or  chasing  them  away,  m 
time  of  war.     As  a  position,  then,  and  if  nothing 
but  a  rock,  or  desert  point,  tlie  possession  of  the 
Columbia  is  invaluable  to  us;  and  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  maintain  it  at  all  hazards. 

Agriculturally  the  value  of  the  country  is  great; 
aVid,''tn  uMilnstand  it  in  all  its  extent,  this  large 
country  should  be  contemplated  under  its  difierent 
divisions— the  threefold  natural  geographical  divi- 
sions under  which  it  presents  itself:  the  mai-itnne, 
the  middle,  and  the  mountain  districts. 
/  The  maritime  region— the  fertile  part  of  it— is 
the  long  valley  between  the  Cascade  and  the  coast 
ranges  of  mountains,  extending  from  the  head  of  the 


i 


1 


8t 


i 


Wnh-ltth-av»tli,n«»r  th«  latitude  of  4a<lc?;rcc«,  to 
l!„>  StrnitM  "f  Piu-ii,  n«nr  laiimdu  4!».  I»^  tlii»  val- 
ley lU"  'hf  ii<h  tidewnK-r  region  of  the  Coliimbiu, 
willv  the  Wttli-lah-mnth  river  on  titr  south,  and  tlm 
CowtdiHkd.iuid  tlie  Olympic  diHirict.on  tUv.  north. 
It  is  0  viiilcy  of  i\eiu-  five  hundred  mdcs  long,  n^rth 
nnd  south,  mid  above  one  hundred  wide;— rich  iii 
soil,  xriwM  and  timl>or— »nmcient  of  itufiU  to  cou 
«litntc  a  rcsiH-etiihl.  ^tnle,  anil  now  the  sfiU  of  the  , 
British  coinmeniul  nnd  niiiiinry  pout  of  Vancou- 
ver, and  of  tlioir  great  (Urniing  ealul)li.slimeut  of 

NiH'iually.  .         .     ^         1 

T!ic  middle  distrirt,  from  tlie  Cascade  rnnp;e  to 
nonr  llic  base  of  the  KocUy  Mountain«,  is  tlio  re- 
gion called,  desert,  and  which,  in  the  inm^'iniUiona 
of  many,  has  given  character  to  the  whole  coun- 
try.    In  some  respects  it  is  a  desert— barren  ot 
wood— sprinkled  with  sandy  plains— melancholy 
under  the  sombre  nspcct  of  the  gloom/  artemisia 
—and  di'sohile  from  volcanic  rocks,  thi-oiigli  the 
chasms  of  which   plunge   the  headlong  Htreams. 
But  this  desert  has  its  redeeming  points— much  wa- 
ter—grass— many  oases— mountains  capped  with 
snow"  to  refresh  the  air,  the  land,  and  the  eye- 
blooming  valleys— a  clear  sky,  pure  air,  and  a  su- 
preme salubrity.   It  is  the  home  of  the  horse !  found 
there  wild  in  all  the  perfection  of  his  first  nature- 
beautiful  and  fleet— fiery  and  docile— patient,  en- 
during, and  affectionate.     General  Clark  has  told 
me  that,  of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy  horses 
which  he  ond  Lewis  obtained  in  this  district,  he 
lind  never  seen  the  match   in  any  equal  number; 
and   he  had  seen   the  finest  which  the  sporting 
course,  or  the  warlike  parade,  had  exhibited  in 
Virginia.     It  is  the  home  of  that  horse— the  horse 
of  Persia— which  gallops  his  eighty  miles  a  day-- 
swimming  the  rivers  as  he  comes  to  them- finds 
his  own  food  at  night,  the  hoof  scraping  awny  the 
snow  when  it  hides  the  grass- gallojis  his  eighty 
miles  again  the  next  day;  and  so  on  through  a  long 
and  healthy  life;  carrying  his  master  in  the  chase, 
or  the  fight,  circumventing  the  game,  and  pursuing 
the  foe,  with  the  intelligence  of  reason  and  the 
fidelity  of  friendship.     General  Clark  has  infornti- 
ed  me  that  it  was  necessary  to  keep  a  scout  ahead, 
to  drive  away  the  elk  and  buffalo,  at  the  sight  of 
which  all  their  horses  immediately  formed  for  the 
chase,  the  loo.se  ones  dashing  off  to  surround  and 
circumvent  the  game.     The  old  hunters  also  have 
told  me  their  marvellous  stories  about  these  horses, 
nnd  that  in  war  and  hunting  they  had  more  sense 
than  people,  and  as  mucir  courage,  and  loved  it 
as  well.     Tlie  country  that  produces  such  horses, 
must  also  produce  men,  and  cattle,  and  all  the  in- 
ferior animals;  and   must  have  many  beneficent 
attributes  to  redeem  it  from  the  stigma  of  desola- 
tion. .      . 

The  mountain  division  has  its  own  peculiar  fea- 
tures, and  many  of  them  as  useful  as  picturesque 
At  the  bose  of  the  mountains,  a  long,  broad,  and 
lii^h  bench  is  seen — three  hundred  miles  long,  fifty 
mHes  wide — the  deposite  of  abraded  mouiUains  of 
sn.iw  iiitd  verdure  throuirh  thousands  of  years. 
Lewis  and  Clark  thus  describe  this  great  bencii  ol 
land,  which  they  twice  crossed  in  their  expedition 
to  and  from  the  Pacific  ocean: 


cvere.l  with  »  growth  of  tall,  long  I.  nf.'.l  pIno.  Tl.i«  pl»l 
U  chlnly  liitcrriiixeil  iieiir  the  Nlrcniii«  «l  water,  wilt  r>-  tli« 
|,ll|<  nrciiw,.  nml  lolly;  l.ui  ih"  -oil  U  k.mmI.  ii'l.iu  iinen- 
eiunlMirnd  liy  ni'ieli  -ton.-,  lunl  \»,o*>'»,%  m«ti'  tiinl.rr  H at 
Ui"  lev.'l  c.Minlrv.  Itii.ler  -hell-r  of  tliem.  I.lllj  tli-  l«.ltom 
!  ,;iH  .kirt  ll.o  marah.  of  t.ie  riverj.,  rui.l  U.ou.h  »""mv  »ml 
iMiiilliieil,  lire  Htm  fertile  nml  rnrely  l.iiiii.lut.'.l.  N.-nrly  lh« 
wl  '..t'tt.l«wl.le.pren,l  tru.t  In  .ovcre.l  willn.  proluj  .m 
of Vii.-  iiM.1  l-laiit-,  wl.lcl.  .ire  M  Ihf.  lime  (M;iy)  ni  hijti  w 
,|„.  k„.....     Ap u  tlie-.'  are  ii  vi.rl,.|ynf  .«ei.lmit  p  i  lU  md 

„u)    nciillr.,!   without  inuel,  'I""''"  !>'' .""^i  *'"''!'*„     r 

„„h  ?>  ..II  rieioim,  tmt  a  very  m .liLHooil.   'lie  "'    »-""-, 

n    liln.ll.e  eliin.ite  .|.llt«  w  inll.l.  If  not  inll.l'r,  lh«  '     •< 
"  ,v'p;r.ill.'l....f  l.itilii.lei.i  llie  AtliiMil.'  Ht|U.H,.n.l  mii^t 
b„  «.,d..llv  I.eiilthy,  for  .III  ll.e  .lUor.ler-  which  w„  »;«v«  w  i- 
.1  ■■.-.'.t  ...;u  fiilrlv  .0  li.ipute.l  iii'ir.'  to  Uie  imture  of  the  ilirt 
I,  .  ..  ',iu^  nitenipermiee  of  .llomte.    ThU  «'•""'"'  "b-^'': 
v,.ti..n  Is  .if  eournt.  to  l,B(|Hnlille<l,  i^liiee  in  llie  »iun«  tnict  of 
cry  the  a.nr.!:-.  of    He  e..n.l.iiiiitlo.i  of  h.^ut  mA  col.l 
0  ,  V  Ih-     .tl.i''n.-e  of  MtiKUion.     TIiun  the  r..in.  ol  the  low 
U   mi"u,  ""r  our  e.ui.p,  nr.  »n..w.  in  tln^  hl«li  pli.u.'';  "ml 
will  •  II  e  min  Hliine.  with  int.'.iH..  heiU  In  the  cntlm-.l  hot- 
on-,  th.-  pl.un.<  .'iijoy  "  ""'<••'  '•"'''•■'  "•'■' '""'  the  v,.m.t,,t  .m 
H     et,    1..  I    It  \>Jt  llrt >  'IHVH,  will t  the  fliot  ot    he 

;,„'intai,..  till.  M.ow.  ,.re  Mill  '-'''"y ' v*'' '' '';t''iiZl'o- 

within  twenty  niii.'x  .)f  o.ir  eiinip  w  ..iwi.rve  the  riuorn  ot 
w  e  ".l.l,tluM-ool,,ir..f  sprinit,.m.l  ll.e  oppr.-.i  ve  h.jrtl 
of  ni.Uiiiii.  i.T.  Kvei.  on  the  pl.Un-.  how-ver,  where  U.e 
"ii.Iw  11.1"  mil,-..,  it  H,...|,..  to  .10  hut  little  injury  to  the  «ra.« 
null  other  pliiiiH,  whieh.  th..ii«h  iipp.ir.-.itly  ten.h'f  "'"' f"^' 

c'l  tihli^,  ur.-  Ht.ll  t Mi.inu,  lit  the  h.'lKht  ot  iieiuly  .■IkM'.!. 

I,,'..  J    hro««li   the  nnow.     In  nhort,  thU  .1  «triot  altof.l. 

,  V  ».lv.iutu«es  to  netth'rH,  nn.l  If  proper  y  cullivnted. 

woul.1  .vi.il.l  every  ol.j.„t  luioesmiry  for  Uie  HuhaiBtciic!  and 

coinrirt  of  .'ivili/.e.l  miin." 


'•The  country  along  the  Uoeky  Mountains,  for  several 
hundred  iiiile.s  in  length  aii.l  about  fifty  wid.-,  is  a  Inah  level 
plain  ;  in  all  its  parU  extromcly  fertile,  and  in  iiuuiy  places 


Other,  and  smaller  benches  of  the  same  character, 
are  frequently  s.'cn,  inviting  the  farmer  t.i  make  his 
healthy  habitation  and  fertile  field  upon  it. 

Entering  the  gorges  of  the  mountains,  and  a  suc- 
cession of  everything  is  found  which  is  seen  m 
the  ahiinc  regions  of  Switzerland,  glaciers  only  ex- 
cepted.    Magnificent   mountain  scenery— lakes- 
gassy    valleys— snow-.iapped     mountains— clear 
streams  and  fountains— coves  and  parks— hot  and 
warm  springs— mineral  waters  of  many  varieties- 
salt  in  the  solid  and  fiuid  state- salt  lakes,  and 
even  hot  salt  springs— wood,  coal,  and  mm.    bucli 
are  the  Rocky  MounUiins  in  the  Ion";  and  broad 
section  from  the  head  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte, 
of  the  sunny  S.)uth,  to  the  head  of  the  Athabasca, 
of  the  Frozen  ocean.    This  ample,  rich,  and  ele- 
vated mountain  region  is  deemed,  by  those  unac- 
quainted with  the  Farthest  West,  to  be,  and  to  be 
forever,  the  desolate  and  frozen  dominion  of  the 
wild  beast  and  the  savage.     On  the  contrary,  I 
view  it  as  the  future  seat  of  population  anil  power, 
where  man  is  to  appear  in  all  the  moral,  intellect- 
ual, and  physical  endowments  which  ennoble  the 
mountain  race,  and  where  liberty,  independence, 
and  love  of  virtue,  are  to  make  their  last  stand  on 

earth.  ,  ,     ■       , 

Thus,  agriculturally,  and  as  producing  the  means 
of  human  subsistence— as  sustaiiiins);  a  ponulalion, 
and  supnlying  the  elements  of  wealth  and  power, 
as  derived  from  the  surface  and  the  bowels  of  the 
earth— I  l.>ok  upon  the  n^gion  drained  by  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Columbia  as  one  of  the  valuable  divis- 
ions of  the  North  American  continent. 

No  reason  to  undervalue  it  on  the  score  of  com- 
merce. But  this  branch  of  her  advantages  are 
attacked  through  annthev  channe!--in  the  sup- 
posed  unfitness  of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  for 
the  purposes  of  a  port,  commercial  or  naval.  An 
expedition  of  our  own  (Captain  Wilkes)  has  fos- 
tered this  opinion;  but  fortunately  ^rnishes  the 
correction  to  its  own  error.    The  narrative  of  the 


24 


expedition  condnmns  tlic  port:  the  chart  that  ac- 
companies it,  proves  it  to  be  good.  Tliis  chart 
was  constructed  upon  the  seventy  days'  labor  of 
llircfi  young  gentlemen,  midshipmen  in  the  expe- 
dition, whose  numerous  soundings  siiow  the  dili- 
gence r.nd  the  accuracy  of  their  work — their  names, 
Knox,  Reynolds,  and  Blair.  I  read  what  was 
written  in  the  narrative :  it  differed  from  all  that 
I  had  read  beiore.  1  examin  '  the  chart:  it  ap- 
peared to  me  to  present  a  fine  harbor.  But,  being 
no  nautical  man,  I  put  n,  faith  in  my  own  opin- 
ions, u:;  1  had  recourse  to  others.  AFr.  James 
Blair,  one  of  the  three  midshipmen  who  had  sur- 
veyed the  port,  was  in  this  city,  son  of  my  friend 
Francis  P.  Blair.  I  talked  with  him.  His  an- 
swers were  satisfictory.  I  addressed  him  written 
queries.  He  ans\  cred  them;  and  his  answers, 
supported  by  facts  and  reasons,  placed  the  harbor 
above  that  of  New  York.  But  a  New  York  pilot 
was  in  the  city — Mr.  John  Maginn — for  eighteen 
years  a  pilot  there,  and  that  upon  an  apprentice- 
ship of  ten  years,  and  now  tlie  President  of  the 
New  York  Association  of  Pilots,  and  their  agent 
to  attend  to  the  pilot  bill  before  Congress;  he  was 
here,  and  made  my  acquaintance.  I  asked  him  to 
compare  the  charts  of  the  two  harbors.  New  York 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  give  his  opin- 
ion in  writing,  detailed  and  reasoned,  of  their  re- 
spective merits.  He  did  so:  and  these  answers 
pldce  the  port  of  the  Columbia  far  above  that  of 
New  York  in  every  particular,  without  exception, 
which  constitutes  a  good  harbor.  In  depth  of 
water  and  in  width  of  channel — in  directness  of 
channels,  one  being  exactly  straight,  the  other 
with  an  elbow  only — in  the  form  and  character  of 
the  bar,  which  is  narrow,  with  a  hard  sand  bot- 
tom, and  gently  ivloping  to  the  shores — in  readi- 
ness of  access  to  the  sea,  being  in  the  very  edge  of 
the  ocean — in  freedom  from  ice  in  winter  and  great 
heats  in  summer — in  steadiness  of  winds  and  cur- 
rents— in  freedom  from  shelters  outside  of  the  har- 
bor, where  enemies' shi[is  or  fleets  in  time  of  war, 
can  hide,  and  lie  in  wait  for  returning  or  outgoing 
vessels — in  number,  ex'cut,  and  safety  of  anchor- 
ing places,  sufficient  for  any  number  and  any  class 
of  vessels,  immediately  within  the  harbor — in  de- 
fensibility,  bein'j,  from  the  narrowness  of  the 
mouth  and  the  high  points  wlii^h  overlook  it,  sus- 
ceptible of  aijsolute  defence.  And  in  this  respect, 
tiie  mouth  of  the  Columbia  stands  out  pre-emi- 
nently distinguished  over  all  the  rivers  of  the  At- 
lantic, and  most  of  those  of  the  world.  No  seven 
mouths,  like  the  Nile,  or  three  like  the  Mississip- 
pi— no  broad  outlets  thro'jgh  lov/  .'ands  and 
marshes — no  wide  expanse  of  water  at  its  mouth, 
but  a  bay  within,  large  eno\igh  to  hold  ten  thou- 
sand vessels,  a  narrow  gate  to  enter  the  sea,  and 
promontories  on  each  side  to  receive  batteries  to 
defend  it.  In  short,  in  a  state  of  nature,  witliout 
pilots,  light-house?!,  buoys,  beacons,  steam  tow- 
boats,  an  excellent  port:  witli  these  advantages, 
superior  to  New  York  for  every  -rssnl,  from  the 
mcrc''aiH  service  to  the  ship-of-the-line.  Such  is 
the  ha;  oor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  which 
has  been  undervalued  for  several  reasons;  among 
others,  to  find  an  argument  for  going  to  54°  40'  to 
search  for  harbors  in  tiie  depths  of  volcanic  chasms, 
often  too  deep  for  anchorage,  too  abrupt  for  ap- 
firoacli,  and  alway.s  sealed  in  stcril  lands  to  wliich 


geography  has  attached  the  name  of  Desolation. 
Like  the  other  disadvan  ages  attributed  to  the  Co- 
lumbia, that  of  the  harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
vanishes  at  the  touch  of  examination  !  not  only 
vani'i'hes,  but  turns  out  to  be  one  of  its  great  and 
positive  superiorities,  i  would  read  the  statements 
of  Midshipman  Blair,  and  the  pilot,  Mr.  Maginn, 
but  find  them  too  long  fi)r  a  place  in  a  speech: 
they  will  appear  in  an  .-ippondix.  All  the  capaci- 
ties of  this  harbor  are  well  known  to  the  British. 
Often  have  their  Government  vessels  surveyed  it — 
three  times  that  I  knciw  of,  and  never  with  a  dis- 
paraging report.  But  wh)' argue?  While  I  speak, 
the  work  is  going  on.  Vessels  have  been  entering 
the  port  since  17i)2— a  period  of  fifty-six  years — 
without  pilots,  1  ,-;hts,  buoys,  beacons,  steam  tow- 
boats:  witliout  any  of  the  aids  which  the  skill  and 
power  of  civilization  gives  to  a  port.  They  are 
entering  it  now;  and,  counting  from  its  first  dis- 
covery, there  is  not  a  day  in  the  year,  nor  an  liour 
in  the  day,  or  in  the  night,  in  which  they  have  not 
entered  it,  and  entered  it  safely.  A  few  have  been 
wrecked,  and  very  few;  the  great  mass  have  en- 
tered safely,  and  this  in  a  state  of  nature.  What 
will  it  be,  then,  v/hen  aided  like  the  established 
ports  of  the  civilized  world.' 

The  carrying  trade  between  eastern  Asia  and 
western  America  will  be  another  of  the  advantages 
belonging  to  the  Columbia.  It  is  the  only  position 
between  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  and  Behring's 
Straits  on  which  a  naval  power  can  exist.  Mexico 
has  no  timber,  few  ports,  and  none  of  the  elements 
of  ship  building.  The  Lower  California  is  the 
same.  Northern  California,  with  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco,  and  the  magnificent  timber  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  is  now  shown,  by  the  discoveries  of  Cap- 
tain Fremont,  to  be  geographically  ai)|)urteimnt  to 
the  Columbia,  J  in  time  must  obey  its  destiny. 
The  Columbia  river  is  the  scat  of  a  great  naval  pre- 
eminence: magnificent  timber — the  whole  tidewater 
region  of  the  Viver,  ISO  miles  in  length — fit  for  a 
continuous  ship-yard — sup[)lied  with  everything 
from  above — secure  against  the  possibility  of  hostile 
approach  from  below.  North  of  the  Straits  of 
Fuca,  it  is  a  continued  volcanic  desolation,  where 
ships  will  hardly  go,  much  less  be  built.  During 
three  hundred  years,  it  has  remained,  and  stu.  re- 
mains, the  derelict  of  naiions.  Russian  fur-traders 
alone  have  seated  themselves  upon  some  of  its 
hyperborean  islands.  There  is  no  seat  for  a  naval 
power  on  the  western  coast  of  North  America,  ex- 
cept on  the  Columbia.  The  Asiatics  have  no  taste 
for  the  sea;  they  never  seek  the  great  or^  m.  The 
people  on  the  Columbia,  then,  will  be  tlie  carriers, 
almost  exclusii'cly,  between  eastern  Asia,  and  its 
myriad  of  islands,  on  one  side,  and  all  Mexico, 
Caiilornia,  a)Kl  jNiM-tliwcst  America,  on  the  other; 
and  rich  will  be  the  profits  of  sucli  carrying.  I 
set  it  d(Avn  as  another  of  the  great  advantages  of 
the  Columbia. 

The  grasses  of  the  country,  indigenous  os  they 
are,  and  in  the  wild  stale,  are  named  by  Captain 
Frciuont  as  among  its  natural  advantages,  smtrces 
of  national  and  individual  wealth,  and  the  means 
of  changing  the  mode  of  military  operations,  by 
dispcnsiiig  with  the  heavy  C(nmni.ssuriat  of  Euro- 
pean armies.  Horses  for  the  men  to  ride  on,  and 
cattle  for  them  to  feed  on,  would  both  find  their 
supjiort  in  these  grasses,  and  pen\iit  the  most  rapid 


25 


of 


i 

I 


nnd  extended  movements  of  mounted  gun  men, 
cavalry,  and  liorse  artillery.     He  says: 

"  RcCfrrinu  tn  my  journal  for  jmrticiilar  (Inscriptions,  nnd 
for  sectiotiiil  lioundarles  between  ijockI  and  Imd  distriets,  I 
i-an  only  say,  in  general  and  comparative  teriris,  tliat,  in 
ihat  branch  of  aariculture  wbicli  implies  the  cultivation  of 
grains  and  staple  crops,  it  would  be  inferior  to  the  Atlantic 
Slates,  tliouiili  many  parts  are  superior  tor  wheat;  while,  in 
the  rearing  of  flocks  and  herds,  it  would  claim  a  lilch  place. 
Its  grazins;  capabilities  are  great;  and  even  in  the  indigenous 
grass  now  there,  an  element  of  national  and  individual 
wealth  may  be  found.  In  fact,  the  valuable  grasses  begin 
within  one  hundred  and  fifly  miles  of  the  Missouri  frontier, 
and  extend  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  East  of  the  Itocky  Moun- 
tains, it  is  the  short  curly  grass,  on  which  the  bullalo  delights 
to  feed,  (Whence  its  name  of  buftalo,)  and  which  is  still  good 
when  dry  and  apparently  dead.  West  of  those  mountains, 
it  is  a  lariier  growth,  in  clusters,  and  lieiiei'  called  bunch 
grass,  and  which  has  a  second  or  fall  growth.  Plains  and 
mountains  both  exhibit  them ;  and  I  have  seen  good  pas- 
turage at  an  elevation  of  ten  thousand  fet't.  In  this  spon- 
taneous product,  the  trading  or  travelling  caravans  can  find 
subsistence  for  their  animals;  and,  in  military  operations, 
any  number  of  cavalry  maybe  in<ivi(;,  and  any  number  of 
cattle  maybe  driven;  and  tiiiis  men  an<l  horses  b<!  supported 
on  long  expeditions,  and  even  in  winter  in  the  sheltered 
situations."    (P.  277.) 

Militarily,  its  advantages  are  vast,  and  are  graph- 
ically sketched  by  Captain  Fremont.  In  his  ex- 
tended explorations,  he  has  viewed  the  country 
under  every  aspect  of  natural  or  pliysieal  geogra- 
phy, and  thus  presents  it  under  its  military  aspect 
in  a  state  of  nature  : 

"  The  Columbia  is  the  only  river  wlii"h  traverses  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  country,  breaking  through  all  the 
ranges,  and  entering  the  sea.  Drawing  its  waters  from  a 
section  often  degreis  of  latitude  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
which  are  collected  into  one  stream  by  three  main  forks, 
(Lewis's,  Clark's,  and  the  North  fork,)  near  the  ciiitre  of 
the  Oregon  valley,  this  great  river  tiiencc'  proceeds  by  a 
single  channel  to  tin?  sea,  while  its  three  forks  lea<l  each  to 
a  pass  in  the  mountains,  which  opens  the  way  into  the  in- 
terior of  the  continent.  This  fact  in  relation  to  the  rivers 
of  this  region,  gives  an  immense  value  to  the  Colund)ia.  Its 
mouth  is  the!  only  inlet  and  outlet  to  and  from  the  sea;  its 
three  forks  lead  to  the  passes  in  the  mountains  ;  it  is,  then;- 
fore,  the  only  line  of  communication  between  the  Pacific 
and  the  interior  of  North  Anieiica;  and  all  operations  of 
war  or  commerce,  of  national  or  social  intiTciiurse,  nntst 
becundncted  upon  it.  This  gives  it  a  value  beyond  estima- 
tion, and  would  involve  irreparable  injury  if  lost.  In  this 
unity  and  concentration  of  its  waters,  the  Pacific  side  of  our 
continent  differs  entirely  t'rom  the  Atlantic  side,  where  Uw 
waters  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  are  dispersed  into  many 
rivers,  having  their  ditt'erent  entrances  i;:to  the  sea,  anil 
opening  many  lines  of  conununication  with  the  interior. 

"The  Pacilic  coast  is  eiiually  difierent  from  that  of  the 
Atlantic.  The  coa-t  of  the  Atlantic  is  low  and  open,  in- 
dented with  nunierou:!  bays,  sounds,  and  river  estuaries, 
accessible  everywiiere,  and  op"niiia  by  many  channels  into 
the  heart  of  the  country.  The  Pa<Mlie  coast,  on  the  contrary, 
is  high  and  Ciimpaet,  with  few  bays,  and  but  one  tlnit  opens 
into  the  heart  of  the  country.  'I'ln^  immediate  coast  is  what 
the  seamen  call  iron  hximl.  A  liftlf  within,  it  is  sk!rt<'cl  by 
two  MK'ces~ive  ranees  of  mountains,  standinst  as  rainpiirts 
tietween  the  sea  and  the  inf  'rior  country ;  ami  to  get  throngli 
wliieh,  there  is  but  one  irafc!,  nud  that  narrow  and  easily 
del' 'uded.  This  structure  of  the  coast,  bai'ked  by  these  two 
ranges  of  mouiitaiiis,  with  its  coiu'cntration  and  unity  of 
waters,  '^ives  to  the  conntry  an  innnense  military  strengfli, 
ami  will  pndiably  reinler  Oreiron  the  most  impregnabh! 
country  in  the  world."    (pp.  d74-j.) 

Commercially,  tlie  advantages  of  Orofroii  will 
he  great — f;ir  greater  than  any  equal  purtioii  of  the 
.'\thiiinc  ftiaies.  'L'hr.  i:a«u;ni  Asuities,  who  wiil 
he  their  chief  citstomer.s,  are  more  numerous  than 
our  customers  in  western  Eiiro])e — more  profitiihlc 
to  ti-ade  with,  and  less  dangerous  to  quarrel  with. 
Their  articles  of  commerce  are  richer  than  those 
<»f  Europe;  they  want  what  the  Oregons  will  have 
to  spare — bread  and  provision.^ — and  have  nc  sys- 


tems of  policy  to  prevent  them  from  purchasing 
these  necessaries  of  life  from  those  who  can  sup- 
ply them.  The  sea  which  washes  their  shores  ia 
every  way  a  better  sea  than  the  Atlantic — richer 
in  its  whale  and  other  fisheries — in  the  fur  regions 
which  enclose  it  to  the  north — more  fortunate  in 
the  tranquillity  of  its  character,  in  its  freedom  from 
storms,  gulf-streams,  and  icebergs — in  its  perfect 
adaptation  to  steam  navigation — in  its  iiiterniediate 
or  half-way  islands,  and  its  myriad  of  rich  islands 
on  its  further  side  ; — in  its  freedom  from  maritime 
Powers  on  its  cotusts,  except  the  American,  which 
is  to  grow  up  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  As 
a  people  to  trade  with — as  a  sea  to  navigate — the 
Mongolian  race  of  eastern  Asia,  and  the  North 
Pacific  ocean,  are  far  preferable  to  the  Europeans 
and  the  Atlantic. 

But  enough  of  this.  The  country  is  vindicated: 
error  is  dispelled.  Instead  of  worthlessnes.s,  the 
region  of  the  Oregon  is  proved  to  have  all  the  ca- 
pabilities of  an  immense  Power.  Agricultural 
capabilities  to  sustain  a  great  population,  and  to 
ftirnish  the  elements  of  commerce  and  inanufac- 
tures — a  vast  and  rich  commerce  and  navigation  at 
its  hands — a  peaceable  sea  to  navigate — gentle  and 
profitable  people  to  trade  with  them — a  climate 
of  supreme  and  almost  miraculous  salubrity — a 
natural  frontier  of  mountain  ramparts — a  triple 
barrier  of  moumains — to  give  her  a  military  im- 
pregnability. 

Having  cleared  away  the  errors  which  under- 
valued the  country,  anti  pointed  out  the  advantages 
peculiar  to  it,  I  now  come  io  another  advantage, 
common  to  all  North  America,  and  long  since  the 
cherished  visior  of  my  young  imagination.  A 
Russian  Empr  ss  said  of  the  Crimea:  Here  lies 
the  road  to  Byzantium.  I  say  to  my  fellow-citi- 
zens:  Through  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  lies  the 
North  American  road  to  India.  Twenty-eight 
years  ago  I  wrote  something  on  this  head ,  and  pub- 
lished it.  A  quarter  of  a  century  of  experience 
and  observation  has  given  me  nothing  to  detract 
from  what  I  then  wrote — nothing  to  add,  except  as 
derived  from  the  progress  of  tho  arts,  and  especi- 
ally omnipotent  steam. 

The  trade  of  the  East  has  always  been  the  rich- 
I  est  jewel  in  the  diadem  of  cominerce.  All  nations, 
I  in  all  ages,  have  sought  it;  and  those  which  obtain- 

■  cd  it,  or  even  a  share  of  it,  attained  the  highest 
I  degree  of  opulence,  refinement,  and  power.  The 
'•■  routes  through  which  it  flowed  fertilized  deserts, 

i  and  built  up  ''ities  and  kingdoms  amidst  the  deso- 
lation of  rocks  and  sands.     Phenicia,  Egypt,  Per- 

!  sia,  were  among  the  ancient  thorouu;!ifures  of  this 
commerce;  Constantinople  and  Alexaiidriii  among 

■  its  modern  channels;  and  Venice  and  Ueiioa  in  the 
I  south,  and  Bruges  and  Antsverp  in  the  north,  the 
;  means  of  its  distribution  over  Europe.  All  grew 
j  rich  and  powerlul  upon  it;  and,  with  wealth  and 

power,  came    civilization  and  refinement.      The 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  became  the  recent  route,  with 

'  wealth  to  its  discoverers,  the  Portuguese,  and  to 

i  all  their  rivals  and  ioiiuwer.'i — the  Dutch,  English, 

'  French,  and  others. 

j  The  commerce  of  Asia,  always  dazzling  to  the 
Oriental  nations,  became  the  intense  object  of  de- 
'  sire  to  the  western  Europeans,  from  the  time  that 
I  the  crusaders  visited  Constantinople,  and  Vascadi 
i  Gama  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.    The  daz- 


ii\ 


M 


ll 


26 


zlins;  attrnction  of  this  commerce  was  the  cause  of 
the  discovery  of  tlie  New  World.  Columbus,  i,'o- 
ins;  west  to  Asia,  wiis  arrested  by  the  intervention 
of  tiie  two  Americas.  From  his  day  to  the  present, 
skill  and  power  have  exerted  themselves  to  get 
round,  or  through  this  formidable  obstacle.  All 
the  attempts  to  discover  a  northwest  passage  were 
so  many  attemjits  to  discover  a  western  road  to 
India.  All  the  discoveries  of  the  French  among 
the  interior  lakes  and  great  rivers  of  North  Amer- 
ica were  with  the  same  view.  La  Salle,  the  great 
French  discoverer,  parting  from  his  friends  eight 
miles  from  Montreal,  for  his  last  word,  exclaimed, 
La  Chine!  (China,)  as  the  word  which  displayed 
the  object  and  end  of  his  adventurous  enterprise; 
and  by  that  name  the  spot  is  known  to  this  day.  He 
had  all  the  qualities  of  a  great  discoverer  lut  one: 
he  knew  not  how  to  conciliate  the  feelings  of  his 
people,  and  fell  a  sacrifice  to  their  resentment  on 
the  Arkansas.  The  Jesuit  fathers,  courageous  and 
pious  missionaries,  to  whom  the  world  was  in- 
debted for  all  its  early  knowledge  of  the  interior  of 
North  America,  (I  am  speaking  only  of  this  in- 
terior,) seeing  the  waters  of  a  thousand  lakes,  held 
in  equilibrium  on  a  vast  plateau  ''n  the  centre  of  the 
continent,  from  which  three  great  rivers  went  olf 
north,  south,  and  east,  to  the  Atlantic;  and  hear- 
ing the  Indians  speak  of  a  river  of  the  west,  in  their 
language  Oregan — a  spelling  which  Humboldt  fol- 
lows— naturally  supposed  that,  from  the  same 
plateau  a  fourth  great  river  went  off  west,  and  actu 
ally  sketched  an  Oregan  fiom  Lake  Winepec  to  the 
Pacific,  still  to  be  seea  on  some  old  maps.  They 
were  right  in  the  fact  of  the  river,  though  mistaken 
in  its  source;  and  this  is  the  first  knowledge  which 
history  has  of  Oregon. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  that  man  of  rare  endowments  and 
common  sense — of  genius  and  judgment — philoso- 
phy and  practice — whose  fertile  mind  was  always 
teeming  with  enterprises  beneficial  to  his  species: 
tliiu  rare  man,  following  up  the  grand  idea  of  Co- 
lumbus, and  taking  up  the  unfinished  enterprise  of 
La  Salle,  and  anxious  to  c-owd  into  his  Adminis- 
tration a  galaxy  of  brilliant  events,  early  projected 
the  discovery  of  an  inland  route  to  the  Pacific 
ocean.  The  Missouri  river  was  to  be  one  long 
link  in  this  chain  of  communication:  the  Columbia, 
or  any  other  that  might  serve  the  purpose,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  mountains,  was  to  be  another. 
Lewis  and  Clark  were  sent  out  to  discover  a  com- 
mercial route  to  the  Pacific  ocean;  and  so  judi- 
ciously was  their  enterprise  conducted  that  their 
return  route  must  become,  and  forever  remain,  the 
routeof  commerce:  the  route  further  south,  through 
the  South  Pass,  near  latitude  42,  will  be  the  ireiv- 
elling  road;  but  commerce  will  take  the  water  line 
of  their  return,  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
latitude  47,  through  the  North  Pass. 

With  the  exception  of  a  small  part  of  the  route, 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  now  follow,  and  have 
followed  for  thirty  years,  the  route  of  Lewis  and 
Clark.  These  eminent  discoverers  left  the  Co- 
lumbia river  near  the  mouth  of  Lewis's  fork,  went 
up  the  Kooskooske,  thence  over  a  high  mountain 
to  the  forks  of  Clark's  river;  and  tlience  througli 
the  North  Pass  to  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Mis- 
souri. The  Hudson  Bay  Company  have  discov- 
ered a  better  route  to  Clark's  river,  following  the 
Columbia  liigher  up,  aad  leaving  it  at  the  Upper 


Falls,  in  latitude  about  48i,  and  where  they  have 
esta!)lished  iheirdepot  for  the  mountain  trade,  called 
Fort  Colville.  From  these  Falls  h  is  sixty  miles 
overland  to  Clark's  river,  whence  the  river  is  nav- 
igable to  its  forks,  three  hundred  miles  up,  and 
within  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  Great 
Falls  of  the  Missouri.  Along  this  route  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  have  carried  on  their  trade,  for 
near  thirty  years,  even  quite  through  to  the  east 
side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  paying  no  duties, 
using  our  river  and  territories,  poisoning  the  minds 
of  the  Indians  against  us,  and  exhausting  the  coun- 
try of  its  furs.  Their  goods  arrive  at  Fort  Van- 
couver in  ships  from  London — ascend  the  Colum- 
bia to  Fort  Colville  in  batteaux — make  a  portage 
of  sixty  miles  to  Clark's  river,  the  lower  part  of 
that  river  being  unfit  for  navigation;  then  ascend 
Clark's  river  to  its  forks,  three  hundred  miles,  and 
thence  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri.  The 
only  pan  of  this  route  with  which  I  have  but  little 
acquaintimce  is  the  sixty  miles  of  portage  from  the 
Upper  Falls  of  the  Columbia  to  the  point  where 
Clark's  river  can  be  navigated.  It  may  be  moun- 
tainous; but  that  it  is  practicable,  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  have  used  it 
for  thirty  years:  that  it  is  the  best  route,  is  proved 
by  the  further  fact  that  long  acquaintance  with  the 
country  has  not  induced  them  to  change  it.  With 
this  slight  deviation,  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
follow  the  return  route  of  Lewis  and  Clark;  and  this 
will  be  the  route  of  commerce  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  Columbia  river  is  decried  for  its  navigation, 
not  by  the  British,  who  know  its  value,  and  strug- 
gle to  maintain  its  posses.sion;  but  by  those  who 
see  the  whole  country  beyond  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains through  the  medium  of  depreciation.  It  is, 
even  in  a  state  of  nature,  a  practicable  river  for 
navigation.  The  tide  flows  up  it  one  hundred  and 
eighty  miles;  and  to  that  distance  there  is  ship  nav- 
igation, Batteaux  ascend  it  to  Fort  Colville,  at 
the  Upper  Falls,  making  more,  or  fewer,  portages, 
according  to  the  state  of  the  water;  and  beyond  that 
point  they  still  ascend,  to  the  "  Boat  Encamp- 
ment," opposite  the  head  of  the  Athabasca;  where 
a  Pass  in  the  mountains  leads  to  the  waters  of  the 
Frozen  ocean.  Periodically,  the  river  is  flooded 
by  the  melting  of  the  snows  in  the  mountains;  and 
then  many  of  the  falls  and  rapids  are  buried  in 
deep  water,  and  no  trace  of  them  seen.  This  is 
even  the  case  with  the  Great  Falls,  where  a  pitch 
of  twenty-eight  feet,  at  low  water,  disapiiears 
wholly  under  the  flood.  Sixty  feet  is  the  rise,  and 
that  annual,  and  punctual.  No  ice  cbstructs  its 
surface:  no  sunken  trees  encumber  its  joitom.  Art 
will  improve  the  navigation,  and  steam-vessels  will 
undoubtedly  run  to  the  Upper  Falls — the  pitcli 
sixteen  feet — a  distance  from  tidewater  of  some 
six  hundred  miles;  and  the  point  where  the  land 
carriage  of  sixty  miles  begins.  Clark's  river  has 
a  breadth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  u|)  to  its 
forks,  being  near  the  width  of  the 'Cumberland  at 
Nashville.  The  melting  of  the  snows  gives  it  a 
periodical  flood.  The  valh  y  through  which  this 
river  flows  is  rich  and  handsome,  in  places  fifteen 
miles  wide,  well  wooded  and  grassy,  ornamented 
with  thebeautiful  Flat  Head  Lake — a  lake  of  thirty- 
five  miles  in  length,  seated  in  a  large  fertile  cove, 
and  embosomed  In  snow-capped  mountains.  Hot 
and  warm  springs,  advautogeously  compared  by 


27 


Lewis  and  Clavk  to  those  in  Virginia,  also  enrich 
it;  and  when  the  East  India  trade  has  taken  its 
course  through  tliis  valley,  here  may  grow  up,  not 
a  Palmyra  of  the  desert,  but  a  Palmyra,  queen  of 
the  mountains.  From  the  forks  of  Clark's  river, 
nearly  due  cast,  it  is  about  ninety  miles  to  the 
North  Pass,  along  n  well-beaten  buffalo  road,  and 
over  a  fertile,  grassy,  and  nearly  level  mountain 
plain.  The  North  Pass  is  as  easy  as  the  South- 
practicable  by  any  vehicle  in  a  state  of  nature,  and 
no  obstacle  to  the  full  day's  march  of  the  traveller. 
Lewis  and  Clark  made  thirty-two  miles  the  day 
they  came  through  it,  and  without  being  sensible 
of  any  essential  rise  at  the  point  of  separation  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  waters.  To  the 
right  and  left  the  mountains  rose  high;  but  the 
Pass  itself  is  a  depression  in  the  mountain,  sinking 
to  the  level  of  the  country  at  their  base.  From  this 
Pass  to  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  and  nearly 
east  from  it,  is  sixty  miles— iii  all,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  the  forks  of  Clark's  river  to 
the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  which,  added  to 
sixty  miles  from  Clark's  river  to  the  Upper  Falls 
of  the  Columbia,  gives  two  hundred  and  ten  miles 
of  land  carriage  between  the  large  navigable  waters 
of  the  Columbia  and  Missouri. 

This  is  the  sum  of  my  best  information  on  the 
subject,  the  result  of  thirty  years  inquiries,  and 
believed  to  be  correct;  but  an  accurate  topographi- 
cal survey  of  the  country  between  the  two  rivers, 
and  a  profile,  as  well  as  a  superficies  map,  with 
barometrical,  geological,  botanical,  astronomical, 
and  meteorological  tables  and  observations,  would 
solve  every  question,  and  be  a  large  contribution 
to  the  science  of  the  age,  and  to  the  future  trans- 
action of  business.  If  snow,  during  some  months, 
should  be  found  to  impede  the  steam  car  in  this 
elevated  region,  (guessed  to  be  seven  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,)  that  same  snow  be- 
comes the  basis  for  the  next  best  land  conveyance 
after  the  steam  car— the  sleigh.  So  that  this  little 
intervention  of  dry  ground  between  Canton  and 
New  York  will  jirove  to  be  no  obstacle  either  in 
summer  or  winter. 

Arrived  at  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  the 
East  India  merchant  may  look  back  and  say,  my 
voyage  is  finished  !  He  may  look  forward  and 
say,  a  thousand  markets  lie  before  me,  of  all  which  I 
may  take  choice.  A  downward  navigation  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  miles  carries  him  to  St. 
Louis,  the  centre  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  focus  to  which  conver2;c  all  the  steam- 
boats— now  thousands,  hereafter  to  be  myriads — 
from  all  the  extended  circumference  of  that  vast 
valley.  Long  before  he  reaches  St.  Louis,  he  is 
running  the  double  line  of  American  towns  and  vil- 
lages seated  on  either  bank  of  the  river.  The  Mis- 
souri river  is  said  '.o  be  the  best  steamboat  river 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth — the  longest — retaining 
its  water  best  at  all  seasons,  and  periodically  flood- 
ed at  a  known  day — free  from  rocks,  and ,  for  nearly 
two  thousand  miles,  free  from  sunlfen  trees;  for  it 
is  on  approaching  the  heavy  forest  lands  of  the 
lower  Mis.souri  that  this  ubslruction  occurs.  All 
above  is  clear  of  this  danger.  The  river  is  large  from 
the  Falls  down;  the  mountain  streams,  almost  in- 
numerable, pouring  down  such  ample  contributions. 
At  the  Mandan  villages,  and  iifter  the  junction  with 
the  Yellow  Stone,  itself  equal  in  length  to  the  Ohio, 


it  presents  the  same  majestic  appearance  to  the  eye 
that  it  does  towards  Its  mouth.  Coal  lines  its 
banks  in  many  places;  fertile  land  abounds.  A 
military  post  will  doubtless  soon  be  established  at 
the  Great  Falls,  as  also  on  this  side,  at  the  Yellow 
Stone,  and  beyond,  in  the  valley  of  Clark's  river, 
and  on  the  Columbia,  at  the  Upper  Falls:  every 
post  will  be  the  nucleus  of  a  settlement,  and  the 
future  site  of  a  great  city.  The  East  India  mer- 
chant, upon  the  new  North  American  road,  will 
find  himself  at  home,  and  among  his  countrymen, 
and  under  the  flag  and  the  arms  of  his  country, 
from  the  moment  he  reaches  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia— say  within  fifteen  days  after  leaving  Can- 
ton !  All  the  rest,  to  the  remotest  market  wliich  he 
can  choose,  either  in  the  vast  interior  of  the  Union, 
or  on  its  extended  circumference,  will  be  among 
friends.  What  a  contrast  to  the  time,  and  the 
perils,  the  exposure  and  expense  of  protection, 
which  the  present  six  mon:hs'  voyage  involves  ! 

Arrived  at  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  the 
East  India  merchant,  upon  this  new  road,  will  see 
a  thousand  markets  before  him,  each  inviting  his 
approach,  and  of  easy,  direct,  and  ready  access. 
A  downward  naviration  of  rapid  descent  takes  him 
to  St.  Louis,  and  New  Orleans,  and  to  all  the 
places  between.  A  continuous  voyage,  without 
shifting  the  posiiion  of  an  ounce  of  his  cargo,  will 
carry  him  from  the  Great  Falls  to  Pittsinirg:  a 
single  transhipment,  and  three  days  will  take  him 
to  the  Atlantic  coast:  omnipotent  steam  flying  him 
from  Canton  to  Philadelphia  in  the  marvellous 
space  of  some  forty-odd  days  !  I  only  mention  one 
line,  and  one  city,  as  a  sample  of  all  the  rest. 
What  is  said  of  Pittsburg  and  Philadelphia,  may 
be  equally  said  of  all  the  western  river  towns  to- 
wards the  heads  of  navigation,  and  of  all  the  At- 
lantic, Gulf,  cr  Lake  cities,  with  which  they 
communicate.  Some  sixty  days,  the  usual  run  of 
a  bill  of  exchange,  will  reach  the  m.  A  remote:  so 
that  a  merchant  may  give  a  sixty  days'  bill  hi  his 
own  country,  after  this  route  is  in  operation,  and 
pay  it  at  maturity  with  silks  and  teas  which  were 
111  Canton  on  the  day  of  its  date. 

This  is  the  North  American  Road  to  India,  all 
ready  now  for  use,  except  the  short  link  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  to  the  Great  Falls  of  Mis- 
souri ! — all  the  rest  now  ready — made  ready  by 
nature,  aided  by  private  means  and  individual  en- 
terprise, without  the  aid,  or  even  countenance  of 
government!  And  will  government  now  refuse 
its  aid;  nay,  more,  obstrucl  the  enterprise  of  indi- 
viduals, and  frustrate  the  designs  of  nature,  by 
leaving  the  Columbia  where  it  iniprovidently  jdaced 
it,  in  the  year  1818— in  the  hands  of  a  foreign  Pow- 
er, and  that  Power  Great  Britain .'  Forbid  it,  every 
princi|)le  of  right  and  justice — every  consideration 
of  policy  and  interest.  Now  is  the  time  to  decide 
this  great  question,  and  to  redeem  the  error  of  1818. 
My  voice  denounced  the  error  then,  and  was  un- 
heeded. It  was  solitary,  and  received  no  response. 
A  nation  now  demands  it;  and  it  is  not  for  a  na- 
tion's representatives  to  disregard  a  nation's  call. 
But  even  if  it  should  be  so,  it  may  del'er,  but  can- 
not defeat,  the  great  event.  There  is  an  order  in 
the  march  of  human  events  which  the  improvi- 
dence of  governments  may  derange,  but  cannot 
destroy.  Individuals  will  accomplish  what  gov- 
ernments neglect,  and  events  will  go  forward  with- 


I  > 

111 

I 
If 


28 


to  India  will  be 'established  by  the  people,  if  not 
by  the  government.  The  rich  commerce  of  the 
East  will  find  a  new  route  to  the  New  World,  fol- 
lowed by  the  wealth  and  power  which  has  always 
attended  it;  and  this  will  be  another  of  the  advan- 
tages resulting  from  the  occupation  of  the  Colum- 
bia. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  this  is  the  exact  reason 
why  the  British  want  the  Columbia.     They  want 
it  a's  the  indispensable  link  in  their  own  projected 
North  American  route  to  India.    This  is  shown 
in  McKenzie's  history  of  his  voyages  of  discov- 
ery in  1789  and  1793.    On  both  occasions  he  was 
seeking  a  river  line  of  communication  between 
Hudsoli  's  Bay  and  the  Pacific.     In  the  first  voyage 
he  followed  the  Unjigah,  or  Peace  river,  bearing 
northwest  through  the  Great  Slave  Lake  and  the 
Great  Bear  Lake,  and  after  two  thousand  miles  of 
navigation,  found  himself  at  the   Frozen  Ocean, 
north,  or  rather  east  of  Behring's  Straits.  That  was 
too  far  north  to  answer  any  purpose.     In  the  year 
1793,  he  sat  out  again  to  find  a  more  southern  river 
to  the  Pacific.     Oil  both  voyages  he  sat  out  from 
the  same  point — Fort  Chipewyan,  on  the  Athaba- 
ca  Lake.     Instead  of  descending  the  Unjigah,  he 
now  ascended  it — went  up  to  its  head  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains— passed  through  a  low  gap— found  a 
stream    flowing    west,    (Fvazcr's  river,)  and  fol- 
lowed it  from  its  source  in  55°  of  north  latitude, 
down  to  52°.     Finding  it  to  bear  south,  and  be- 
coming a  large  river,  McKenzie  believed  it  to  be 
the  Columbia,  already  discovered  by  Gray,  and 
thereupon  left  it,  and  crossed  over  direct  to  the 
Pacific   ocean,  which  he   reached  some   distance 
north  of  Vancouver's  Island.     This  voyage,  like 


out  law  to  guide  them.    So  it  has  been  already 
with  this  Columbia.     In  1792,  a  private  individual 
of  Boston  discovered  this  river:  he  revealed  its  ex- 
istence to  the  world:  government  took  no  notice 
of  his  splendid   revelation.     In  1806  Lewis  and 
Clark  returned  from  the  Columbia :    government 
sent  no  troop«  there  to  oc( ;  py  and  retain  the  do- 
main which  they  had  na;ionalized.     The  seat  of  a 
future  empire  lay  a  derelict  on  the  coast  of  its  rich 
and  tranquil  sea.    An  individaal  administered  upon 
the  vacant  domain.     A  man  of  head — Mr.  John 
Jacob  Astor — sent  a  colony  there.     During  two 
years  his  batteaux,  carrying  up  goods,  and  bring- 
ing down  furs,  traversed  cve.vy  water  of  the  Co- 
lumbia; his  ships  visited  Canton,  New  Archangel, 
the  coasts  of  California,  the  Sandwich  and  the  Po- 
lynesian islands.     Astoria  was  in  communication 
with   the   commercial  world.     The   name  of  the 
young  TvuE — future  queen  of  the  New  World — 
was  known  to  nations.     Then   came  the  acts  of 
government  to  baulk,  delay,  defer  the  great  com- 
mencement.    I  do  not  mean  the  war — that  was  a 
brief  and  necessary  event — but  I  speaK  of  the  acts 
of  government  after  the  war.     The  commissioners 
did  their  duty  at  Ghent:  all  posts,  places,  territo- 
ries, taken  from  the  United  States  during  the  war, 
were,  by  the  first  article  of  that  treaty,  to  be  re- 
stored.    The  posts  or  places  of  Astoria,  the  Oka- 
nag-an,  the  Spo-kan,  the  Wah-lah-math,  and  the 
wjiole  territory  of  the  Columbia  river  and  its  valley, 
came  under  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  and  were  bound 
to  be  restored.    The  fate  of  the  restoration  of  all 
western  posts  attended  the  posts  on  the  Columbia. 
After  the  peace  of  1783,  the  northwestern  posts 

were   retained:  British   traders,  backed   by  their, .    .       ,.         •   ^      -■ - 

government,  retained  them:  the  Indian  wars  of  1  the  other,  had  failed  in  its  object:  it  found  no  navi- 
1791-3-4,  were  the  fruit  of  that  retention;  and  the  |  gable  British  river  leading  to  the  Pacific.  And  tlien 
war  of  1812  found  one  of  its  roots  in  the  same  j  a  new  idea  struck  the  disappointed  explorer,  which 
o^use.  This  was  the  fate  of  western  posts  after  |  he  gave  to  the  country,  and  impressed  upon  the 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  After  the  war  of  1812,  i  British  government,  eight  years  afterwards,  m  his 
a  far  worse  flite  awaited  the  western  posts  on  the  1  History  of  the  Fur  Trade.  That  work,  pubhshea 
Columbia.  A  fictitious  restoration  of  one  post  was  j  in  Loudon  in  the  year  1801,  after  lamenting  that 
transacted— to  be  a-.-ompaiiied,  inthe  very  moment  a  Northwest  Passage  could  "ot  '\e  io>'"'^/\li;^V'f^ 
of  the  transaction,  by  the  surrender  of  the  whole 
country  to  the  British.  I  say  the  surrender  of  the 
whole;  for  nothing  less  was,  or  could  be,  the  effei-t 
of  a  joint-use  possession  between  the  weak  and  the 
strong;  between  the  scattered  and  dispersed  Amer- 
ican traders,  abandoned  by  their  government,  aiid 
the  organized  British  companies,  su 
theirs  !  A  quarter  of  a  century  the  B 
held  the  Columbia,  the  government  doing  nothing. 

Four  vcaivs  ago  the  people  began  to  move.     They    j ,  ^  ,  at  t.-       •   ! 

crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains;  they  have  gone  ernment.  Here  is  the  extract  from  McKenzie  s 
down  into  the  tidewater  region  of  the  Columbia.  '  History,  whmh  very  coolly  i-ccommends  all  this 
Without  the  aid  of  government,  they  are  recover- '  policy,  as  if  the  taking  an  Amcncan  river,  and 
ino- what  government  lost,  and  renewing  the  phe- !  making  the  Americans  disappear  from  it,  was  as 
nomenon  of  mere  iudivi.luals  exploring  the  bounds  '  justifialile  an  operation  as  that  of  catchmg  a  beaver, 
of  distant  lands,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  dis- ,  and  killing  him  for  his  skin.  Here  is  the  propo- 
tant  empires.  Thequestion  of  American  coloniza- ;  sitiou  of  McKenzie,  earnestly  pressed  upon  his 
tion  of  the  Columbia  is  settled  !     The  people  have  '  government: 

settled  it;  thev  are  now  there,  and  will  stay  there.  |  "  Tlu-  Russians,  who  fim  disoovored  that, alongtl- ;  coasts 
fcKuieu  11,  iiicy  «■<-"'.  "  ,  -^     r   "      i  „(•  A-^ia.  no  u-i'tu!  nr  rpniilnr  !i;ivi!r!ition  cxisli'd.  nponod  !in 

The  trade  with  India  will  begin.     It  no  mure  Ju.ui    ;;;t;:;j,7„,„„„u„i,,aion  1.^  Ion:,- 

Jacob  Astors  shall  arise  to  commence  the  trai'c  |  .„„j  wiilj-extondod  cdntmuiit,  to  tlie  stniii  thai  separatijs 
upon  a  great   scale,  it  will   proceed   upon  a  small  i  Asm  from  America,  over  vvlii(;ll   they  passed  t.)  the  Ameri- 


daring  that  the  Columbia  was  the  only  line  of 
interior  communication  with  the  Pacific  ocean, 
i)oldly  proposed  to  take  it !  on  no  other  ground 
than  that  it  was  indispensable  to  the  commercial 
communication  between  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Pa- 
cific, and  no  obstacle  in  the  way,  but  American 
pporle'd  by  '  adventurers,  who  would  instantly  disappear  from 
Irilish  have  '  before  a  well-regulated  trade !  that  is  to  say,  be- 
fore the  power  of  the  British  fur-trading  com- 
panies, backed  by  the  power  of  the  British  gov- 


'V- 


29 


ample  nrnportion,  fliis  natmmil   nilvantiigB,  and  secure  the  , 
triule  or  that  eimutry  to  iU  <iil)j<Tt4."     "  Uy  tlie  rivers  lliat 
(lisctmrm;  tlion-clves  into  lliiil»on'.-.  liny,  atloit  Molt^oii,  it 
is  uroi)OH(!tl  to  carry  on  tlu^  trade  to  tlieir  source,  at  tlii^  head 
of  the  SBokatchiwin.'  riv.-r,  wliich  rl-c;  in  th.:  Rocky  Moun- 
taini.not  eight  digr(M!S  oflonKitudi'  tronitho  PiioiHc  Ocean. 
The  Columliia  tiows  from  the  same  iiiountaui^,  and   dH- 
cliarg  'S  itsoir  Into  tlie  Pacific  in  north  latitude  16  -JO.     Both 
of  them  are  capable  of  receiviri'!  ship,-  at  their  months,  and 
are  naviuahle  Uiroii«;hout  for  boats."    "  But  whatever  C(>ur<<e 
inav  he  taken  from  the  Atlantic,  tlie  Volumha  U  the  line  of 
commuiiicationfrom  the  Ptuific  Orean  pointed  out  by  nature, 
as  it  is  the  only  navigable  river  in  the  wliolc  extent  ot  Van- 
couver's Miiniite  survey  of  that  coast;  its  hanks,  also,  form 
tlie  fir-t  level  codiitry  in  all  the  southern  extent  ot  co-itinental 
coast  from  Cook's  entry ;  and,  consecpieiitly,  the  most  north- 
ern -situation,  suitahle  to  the  residrneeof  a  civilized  people. 
Byopenin"  tiiis  iiiti;ieourse  helween  tlie  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Oceans,  and  foriiiiiig  re«ular  eatabhshinents  throu;,'h  the  in- 
terior, and  at  both  extremes,  as  well  as  nlon^  the  coast  and 
islands,  the  entire  cominnnd  of  the  fnr  trade  ot  North  America 
ini'dit  be  obtained,  from  latitude  -18  to  the  polo,  except  that 
portion  of  it  whicli  tlie  Russians  lia  ve  in  the  I'acific.    To  this 
may  be  added,  the  tishing  in  both  sea-,  and  the  market  ot 
the  four  (piarters  of  the  nlohe.     Such  would  he  t  le  field  lor 
commercial  enterprise,  and  incalculable  would  he  the  pro- 
duce  of  it,  when  sU|iported  liy  the  operations  ot  that  credit 
and  capital  which  Great  Britain  so  pre-eiiiiiiently  possesses. 
Then  would  this  country  begin  to  lie  remunerated  for  the 
expense  it  has  sustained  in  discovering  and  surveying  the 
coast  of  till-  Pacific  Ocean,  which  is  at  present  left  to  Amer- 
ican adventurers,  who,  witliout  regularity  or  capital,  or  the 
desire  of  conciliating  future  conhdi  nee,  look  altogether  to 
the  interests  of  the  moment.    Such  adventurers  (and  many 
of  them,  as  I  have  been  informed,  have  been  veiy  success- 
ful) would  instantly  disappear  from  helore  a  well  regulated 
trade."    "  Many  political  reasons,  which  it  is  not  necessary 
here  to  enumerate,  must  present  themselves  to  the  niiiid  ol 
every  man  -acipiainted  witli  tlie  enlarged  system  and  nx- 
pacities  of  British  commerce,  in  support  ot  tlie  measures 
which  I  have  hrietly  suggested,  as  promising  the    most 
important  advantages  to  the  trade  ol    the   I  luted   Iviiig- 
doms." 


«  For  a  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  wf^st  of  the  Mississippi,  McKen/.i,'  proposes 
the  latitude  of  4')  degreees,  because  that  latitiulc  is  necessary 
to  give  the  Columbia  river  to  Great  Britain.  His  words  are  : 
'  Let  the  line  begin  Where  it  may  ou  the  Missis.-ippi,  it  must 
be  continued  west  till  it  terminates  in  the  Pacihc  Ocean,  to 
Ihcsovih  of  the  Columbia.''  " 

It  was  in  tlie  year  1301  tliat  McKeii/.ie  made 
tliis  proposition  to  the  British  government.  That 
government  never  ventured  to  act  upon  the  propo- 
sition until  after  the  joint  occupation  treaty  of 
1818.  Before  that,  its  Ministers  here  hinted  va^ue 
claims,  but  refused  to  write  them  down,  or  to  sign 
them.  After  that  convention,  and  especially  after 
its  renewal  in  1S23,  and  after  tlie  disapiicarancc 
of  our  people  from  the  Columi)ia  under  the  power 
and  policy  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  then  the 
government  toolv  lie  decisive  stand,  and  went  tlie 
whole  leni;th  of  McKenzie's  recommendation. 
This  is  the  origin  of  the  Briti-.li  claim  to  tlie  Co- 
lumbia!—Because  they  could  not  find  a  north- 
west passage— because  the  Unjigah  v/ent  to  the 
Frozen  ocean— because  Frazer's  river  was  unnav- 
igable— because  the  Columbia  river  was  the  only 
practicable  line  of  communication  with  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  its  banks  the  only  situation  fit  for  the 
residence  of  a  civilized  people:  for  these  reasons, 
after  long  delay  and  great  hesitation,  and  aided  by 
the  impravidencc  of  our  government,  they  set  up 
a  claim  to  the  Crt!u:.:biu !  It  was  found  to  be  the 
only  river  on  which  a  commercial  communication 
could  be  opened  between  Hudson's  Bay  and  the 
Pacific  ocean— the  only  British  American  road  to 
India  !  The  command  of  the  North  Pacific  ocean, 
and  the  monopoly  of  its  rich  trade,  depended  upon 


the  acquisition  of  the  Columbia;  and,  therefore, 
they  must  take  it.     This  is  the  origin  of  the  Brit- 
ish claim  to  the  ColumbiA  river.     It  was  an  indis- 
pensable link  in  their  commercial  line  across  the 
continent.    The  other  end  of  that  line  was  in  the 
frozen  and  desolate  regions  of  Lake  Wininec  and 
Hudson's  Bay,  alons  Ihe  icy  streams  of  the  Sas- 
katchiwinc  and  Missinippi,  (Nelson's  river;)  ye^ 
even  for  such  a  route  as  this  McKenzie  invoked 
tl   '  aid  and  protection  of  the  British  government, 
and  obtained   it.      Tiiat  government  now  backa 
the  powerful  fur  company— the  instrument  of  its 
policy  in  America  as  the  Ea.-^t  India  Company  is 
in  Asia— in  its  pretensions  to  the  Columbia  as  the 
suli.stitute  for  the  Northwest  passage;  and  if  they 
had  the  tithe  of  our  title  to  it,  would  never  surrender 
if.    Even  with  one  end  of  their  line  terminating  in  the 
icy  and  desolate  waters  of  Hudson's  Bay,  she  still 
stru"-"-les  for  it.     What  would  it  be  if  she  had  the 
Nor'th  Pass  and  the  Missouri  river,  bearing  down 
south  lo  ihe  centre  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississip- 
pi?    The   British   Government  would    fight   the 
world  for  such  a  line  as  that,  and  spend  unnum- 
bered millions  in  its  improvement  and  protection: 
vet  we  have  turned  our  backs  upon  it — left  it  for 
thirty  years  a  derelict  in  the  hands  of  our  com- 
petitors; and  1  am  now  listened  to  with  some  sur- 
prise and  incredulity  when  I  represent  this  grand 
commercial  route  to  India  upon  the  line  of  the 
Missouri  and  the  Columbia,  as  one  of  the  advan- 
ta"-es  of  Oregon — one  of  our  inducements  to  main- 
tain our  rights  there. 

The  effect  of  the  arrival  of  the  Caucasian,  or 
White  race,  on  the  western  coast  of  America,  op- 
posite the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  remains  to  be 
mentioned  among  the  benefits  which  the  settlement 
ol  the  Columliia  will  produce;  and  that  a  benefit, 
not  local  to  us,  but  general  and  universal  to  the 
human  race.     Since  the  dispersion  of  man  upon 
earth,  I  know  of  no  human  event,  past  or  presetit, 
which  promises  a  -n-eatcr,  and    more  beneficent 
chaii"-e  upon  earth  than  the  arrival  of  the  van  of 
the  fiaucasian  race  (the  Celtic-Anglo-Saxon  di- 
vision) upon  the  border  of  the  sea  which  washes 
the  shore  of  the  eastern  Asia.     The  Mongolian, 
or  Yellow  race,  is  there,  four  hundred  luillions  in 
number,  spreading  almost  to  Europe;  a  race  once 
the  foremost  of  the  human  family  in  the  arts  of 
civilization,  but  torpid   and  stationary  for  thou- 
sands of  years.     It  is  a  race  far  above  the  Ethio- 
pian, or  Black— above  the  Malay,  or  Brown,  (if 
we  must  admit  five  races)— and  above  the  Ameri- 
can Indian,  or  Red:  it  is  a  race  far  above  all  these, 
but  still,  far  below  the  White;  and,  hke  all  the 
:  rest,  must  receive  an  impression  from  the  superior 
I  race  whenever  they  coine  in   contact.     It  would 
I  seem  that  the  White  race  alone  received  the  divine 
'command,  to  subdue  and  replenish  the  earth  !  for 
1  it  is  the  only  race  tliat  has  obeyed  it— the  only  one 
1  that  hunts  out  new  and  distant  lands,  and  even 
\  a  New  World,  to  sul-diic  and  replenish.    Starting 
'from  western  Asia,  taking  Europe  for  their  field, 
and  the  Sun  for  their  suide,  and  leaving  the  Mon- 
■rolians  behind,   tliey^ arrived,   after  many  ages, 
on    the   shores    of  the   Atlantic,   \vhich   they  lit 
up  with  the  lights  of  science  and  religion,   and 
adorned  with   the  useful   and    the   elegant    arts. 
Three  and  u  half  centuries  ago,  this  race,  in  obe- 


.  i 


30 


dicncc  to  the  grr;)t  command,  arriveil  in  the  New 
World,  and  found  new  Innds  to  subdue  and  re- 
plenish.     For  n   long  time   it  was   confined  to 
the  border  of  the  new  field,    (I  now  mean  the 
Celtic-Anglo-Snxon  division;)  and  even  fourscore 
years  affo  the  philosophic  Burke  v/as  consider- 
ed a  rash  man  because  he  said  the  English  colon- 
ists would  top  th"   Alleganies,  and  descend  into 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and   occupy  with- 
out j)archment   if  the   Crown   refused    to   make 
grants  of  land.     What  was  considered  a  rash  dec- 
laration eighty  years  ago,  is  old  history,  in  our 
young  country,  at  this  day.     Thirty  years  ago  I 
said  the  same  thing  of  the  Rocky  iVtountains  and 
the  Columbia:  it  was  ridiculed  tlien:  it  is  becom- 
ing liistory   to-day.     The  venerable  Mr.  Macon 
has  often  told  me  that  he  remembered  a  line  low 
down  in  North  Carolina,  fixed  by  a  royal  govern- 
or as  a  boundary  between   the  wiiites  and  "the  In- 
dians; where  is  that  boundary  now.'    The  van  of 
the  Caucasian  race  now  top  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  spread  down  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.     In 
a  few  years  a  great  population  will  grow  up  there, 
luminous  with  the  accumulated  lights  of  European 
and  American  civilization.   Their  presence  in  such 
a  position  (innot  be  without  its  influence  upon 
eastern  Asia.     The  sun  of  civilization  must  shine 
across  the  sea:  .socially  f  id  commercially,  the  van 
of  the  Caucasians,  and   the  rear  of  the  Mongo- 
lians, must  intermix.  They  must  talk  together,  and 
trade  together,  and  marry  together.     Commerce 
is  a  great  civilizcr— social  intercourse  as  creat— 
and  marriage  greater.     The  White  and   Yellow 
races  can  marry  together,  as  well  as  eat  and  trade 
together.     Moral  and  intellectual  superiority  will 
do  the  rest:  the  White  race  will  take  the  ascend- 
ant, elevating  what    is    susceptible   of   improve- 
ment—wearing out  what  is  not.     The  Red  race 
lias  disappeared  from  tiie  Atlantic  roast:  the  tribes 
that  resisted  civihzation,  met  extinction.     This  is 
ii  cause  of  lamentation  with  many.     For  my  part, 
1  cannot  murmur  at  what  seems  to  Ije  the  effect 
of  divine  law.     I  cannot  repine  that  this  Cai^itol 
has  replaced  the  wigwam— this  Christian  people, 
replaced    the  savages— white    matrons,   the    red 
vsquaws— and    that    such    men    as    Washington, 
Franklin,  and  Jeifovson,  have  taken  tlie  place  of 
Powhattan,  Opeciionecaiiough,and  other  red  men, 
liowsoever  respectable   they   may  have    been  as 
.savages.     Civilization,  or  extinction,  has  been  the 
fate  of  all  people  who  have  found  themselves  in 
the  track  of  the  advancing  Whites,  and  civiliza- 
tion, always   the  preference  of  the  Wliifes,  has 
l)een  pressed  as  sn  object,  while  extinction  has 
followed  as  a  consequence  of  its  resistance.     The 
Black  and  the  Red  races  have  often  felt  their  ame- 
liorating influence.   The  Yellow  race,  next  to  them- 
selves in  the  scale  of  mental  and  moral  excellence, 
and  in  the  beauty  of  form,  once  their  superiors  in 
the  useful  and  elegant  arts,  and  in  learning,  and  j 
still  respectable  though  stationary;  this  race  can-  ! 
not  fail  to  receive  a  new  impulse  from  the  ap-  ! 
proach  of  the  Whites,  improved  so  much  since  so  i 
many  ages  ago  they  left  the  western  borders  of 
Asia.    The  apparition  of  the  van  of  the  Caucas- 
ian race,  rising  upon  them  in  the  east  after  having 
left  them  on  the  west,  and  after  having  completed 
the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe,  must  wake  up 


and  reanimate  the  torpid  body  of  old  A.iia.  Ou» 
position  and  policy  will  commend  us  to  their  hos- 
pitable reception:  political  considerations  will  aid 
the  action  of  social  and  commercial  influences. 
Pressed  upon  by  the  great  Powers  of  Europe— 
the  same  that  presa  upon  us — tliey  must  in  our  ap- 
proach see  the  advent  of  friends,  not  of  foes— of 
benefactors,  not  of  invaders.  The  moral  and  in- 
tellectual superiority  of  the  White  race  will  do  the 
rest:  and  thus,  the  youngest  people,  and  the  new- 
est land,  will  become  the  reviver  and  the  regene- 
rator of  the  oldest. 

It  is  in  this  point  of  view,  and  as  acting  upon 
the  social,  political,  and  religious  condition  of  Asia, 
and  giving  a  new  point  of  departure  to  her  ancient 
civilization,  that  I  look  upon  the  settlement  of  the 
Columbia  river  by  the  van  of  the  Caucasian  race 
as  the  most  momentous  human  event  in  the  his- 
tory of  man  since  hia  dispersion  over  the  face  of 
the  earth. 

These  are  the  values  of  the  Columbia  river  and 
Its  valley— these  the  advantages  of  its  settlement 
by  us.   They  are  great  and  grand,  beneficial  to  our- 
selves, and  to  the  human  race,  and  amply  suffi- 
cient to  justify  the  United  States  in  vindicating 
their  title  to  the  country,  and  maintaining  its  pos"^ 
session  at  all  hazards.     But  I  apprehend  no  haz- 
ard.    The  excitement  in  Great  Britain  was  on  ac- 
count of  the  British  settlements  on  Prazer's  river, 
which  our  claim  to  54°  40'  included  and  menaced. 
That  claim  is  now  on  its  lust  legs.    The  myriads 
of  good  citizens  who  have  oeen  deluded  into  its 
belief,  and  who  have  no  interest  in  being  deceived, 
now  abandon  it  as  a  sheer  mistake.    The  Balti- 
more Convention,  and  che  editors  and  orators  who 
were  so  unfortunate  as  to  stake  the  j)eace,  and  the 
honor,  of  their  country  on  that  error,  and  who  had 
probably  never  read  the  Russian  treaties  of  1824 
and  1825,  nor  the  diplomatic  correspondence  of 
that  time,  nor  ever  heard  of  New  Caledonia,  nor 
taken  it  into  their  heads  to  consider  whether  con- 
tinents were  appurtenant  to  islands,  or  islands  to 
continents:  these  editors  and  orators  may  still  hano- 
on  to  their  old  dream  of  fifty-four  forty  from  moi^ 
tificd  pride,  and  the  consistency,  not  of  judgment, 
but  of  vanity:  they  may  still  hold  on  to  the  shad- 
owy phantom  of  their  former  love;  but  their  power 
to  involve  their  country  in  a  war  for  a  line  which 
has  no  existence,  and  for  a  country  that  belongs  to 
Great  Britain  as  clearly  as  does  Canada,  is  gone. 
They  can   no  longer  lead   the  country  into  war 
upon  a  mistake  !  and  thus  the  war  party  at  home 
may  i)e  said  to  be  extinct.     In  Great  Britain  I  sec 
no  desire  for  war  except  with  those  who  have  no 
power  to  make  it,  namely,  the  abolition  fanatics, 
and  the  Hudson  Bay  traders.  The  former  of  these 
parties,  unmstructed  by  the  scenes  of  the  San  Do- 
mingo insurrection,  and  its  efi'ects  upon  the  blacks 
as  well  as  the  whites  of  that  island,  would  deem  ne- 
gro emancipation  cheaply  purchased  in  the  United 
States  by  the  slaughter  of  every  man,  the  violation 
of  every  woman,  the  massacre  of  every  child,  and 
the  conflagration  of  every  dwelling  in  the  whole 
slaveholding  half  of  the  Union:  but;  happily,  these 
fiinatics  have  no  longer  a  French  National  Conven- 
tion to  organize  their  crimes;  and  speeches  and 
votes  must  still  be  their  arms  instead  of  the  knife 
and  the  torch , 


I 


31 


J, 


i 

I 


i 


The  fur  trailers,  now  ns  always,  are  still  ready 
for  a  war  which   gives  them  a  little  while  longer 
the  monopoly  of  beaver;  but  their  power  is  not 
equal  now  to  what  it  has  been.     They  set  the  In- 
dians upon  us  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  m 
fact  began  the  war  at  Point  Pleasant  (mouth  of  the 
Kenhawa)  in  October,  1774.     They  instigated  and 
kept  up  the  long  Indian  wars  in  the   northwest, 
terminated  at  last  by  Wayne's  victory  under  the 
guns  of  a  British  fort.     One  of  the  causes  of  the 
late  war  had  its  root  in  their  love  of  beaver;  and 
their  savages,  as  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
fought  the  first  battle  in  tlie  bloody  drama  that  was 
to  follow.     As  an  interlude,  when  not  at  war  with 
us,  they  fought  each  other;  and  notliingin  the  long 
catalogue  of  Indian  massacres  can  be  more  shock- 
ing than  those  perpetrated  upon  each  other,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  savages,  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
and  Northwest  Companies;  and  all  from  the  love  j 
of  beaver.     The  act  of  Parliament  which  united  j 
these  two  companies  under  one  charter,  assigned  it  [ 
for  a  reason  of  the  junction,  in  the  face  of  the  act,  j 
the  necessity  of  joniing  them  together  to  prevent 
their  destruction  of  eacli    other.     This  com})any 
would  still  find,  in  their  opinion,  judging  from  then- 
past  acts  and  present  writings,  a  compensation  for 
national  war  in  their  own  furthermonopoly  of  beav- 
er; but  I  see  no  sign  of  their  success  with  the  Gov 
ernment;  and,  for" the  rest,  let  them  beware  !    The 
next  war  with  Great  Britain  will  leave  them  not  a 
fort  standing,  from   the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to 
Hudson's  Bay— from  the  Saskatchiwine  to  Fort 
Chipewyan— from  the  mouth  of  Frazer's  river  to 
Bear  lake.    But  thev  liave  no  longer  power  to  make 
war.     Afterdoing  all  they  can  to  give  that  blessuig 
to  the  two  nations,  they  will  probably  set  up  for 
the  innocent  and  injured  party— demand  indemnity 
for  losses— claim  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia — 
and  require  time  to  remove.     I  shov.ld  be  willing 
to  be  a  negotiator  for  half  an  hour  when  they 
should  come  forward  with  such  reclamations.     I 
would  .dmind  them  of  something  that  might  stand 
as  a  set-off,  and   that  without  going  back  to  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  the  wars  of  the  northwest, 
or  the  war  of  1812.     Leaving  out  old  scores,  and  ! 
confining  my  self  to  the  unsettled  account  which  has 
grown  up  between  us  since  the  war  of  1812,  and 
the  five  hundred  men  killed  on  the  Missouri  and  ttie 
Columbia,  the  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  wortli 
of  property   plundered    there— the  thirty  years' 
ravaging  of  all  the  fur  regions  in  the  valley  of  the 
Columbia  under  the  reciprocity  convention,  winch 
expelled  our  traders  from  our  own  territories  in- 
stead of  admitting  them  into  the  territories  of  the 
British  :  confining  myself  to  these  modern  items, 
and  I  would  soon  find  enough  to  silence  the  de- 
mand for  indemnities,  and  rejecting  the  prayer  for 
future  favors.     But,  enough  of  this.     There  is  no 
longer  a  party,  either  in  the  United  States  or  Grea. 
Britain,  whicJi  can  make  a  war  either  upon  a  mis- 
take, or  upon  fanatii'i-  m.  or  on  beaver. 

The  treaty  of  settlement  and  limits  will  probably 
be  concluded  before  the  expiration  of  the  twelve 
months  whi(;h  the  abrogation  of  the  convention 
requires:  if  not,  the  effect  will  be  the  same  to  us, 
though  not  to  Great  Britain.  Under  the  first  ar- 
ticle of  the  Glw;nt  treaty  we  shall  receive  the  pos- 
session of  the  Columbia;  and,  as  an  incident  of  that 


possession,  ns  well  us  by  the  admission  of  Lord 
Castlereagh  in  1818,  we  shall  have  the  right  to 
hold  and  govern  it  until  the  question  of  title  is  de- 
cided.    This  brings  me  to  the  practical  question  o 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  government,  and 
tlie  administration  of  law,  in  the  country  which 
we  claim.  The  President,  in  view  of  this  question, 
and  with  due  consideration   of  what  we  can  do 
pending  the  convention,  and  what  after  its  abroga- 
tion, and  confining  himself  to  the  first  class  of  these 
j  measures,  has  recommended  five,  namely,  the  no- 
tice— the  extension  of  law  and  government  to  the 
;  American  settlers  to  the  same  extent  that  the  Brit- 
ish  Government  has  extended  law  and  government 
to  British  settlers— the  protection  of  the  emigrants 
by  a  mounted  regiment— block  -houses  on  the  way — 
a  monthlv  mail.     These  are  the  measures  recom- 
mended by  the  President.   Four  of  them  have  been 
o-ranted  (for  the  mounted  regiment  will  furnish  the 
best  mail-carriers;)  one  only  remains,  that  of  the 
temporary  provision  for  the  government  of  the  set- 
tlers; and  this  might  have  been  passed  in  as  little 
time  as  it  would  have  taken  to  read  the  bill  three 
times,  if  presented  in  the  form  recommended  by 
the  Presiaent.     He  recommended  an  extension  of 
our  law  to  our  settlers  to  the  same  extent  that  the 
j  British  had  extended  it  to  theirs.     This  might  have 
'  been  done  by  the  easy  process  of  copying  their  act, 
with  the  modifications  which  would  have  adapted 
its  application  to  our  citizens;  and  by  this  means 
an  adequate  temporary  Government  would  have 
been  provided,  with  the  advantage  of  being  free 
from  the  possibility  of  objection,  or  cavil  on  the 
part  of  the  British  authorities. 

The  bill  from  the  House  is  not  a  modified  copy 

of  the  British  act,  and  is  therefore  objectionable. 

It  also  provides  for  what  is  already  done,  and 

therein    is    objectionable   again.      A  bill  for  the 

mounted  regiment,  and  the  chain  of  block-houses, 

fi)r  the  protection  of  the  emigrants,  passed  the 

Senate  five  months  ago.    Not  being  presented  as 

a  war  regiment,  for  the  conquest  of  the  country  up 

to  54°  40',  it  passed  with  so  little  notice,  that  the 

event  seems  to  have  been  almost  unobserved.     It 

has  lately  jiassed  the  House  of  Representatives, 

and  is  now  the  lawof  the-land;  and  if  all  the  other 

measures  recommended  by  tiie  President  had  been 

brought  forward  in  the  same  way,  they  would 

have  passed  as  easily,  and  the  whole  five  measures, 

notice  and  all,  finished  four  or  five  months  ago. 

But  they  were  brought  forwa''d  as  war  measures — 

war  for  "  all  or  none"— clear  up  to  54°  40'.     This 

was  the  cause  of  the  delay,  and  the  reason  why 

one  of  the  measures— that  of  the  temporary  gov- 

!  ernment— remains  unacted  upon  to  this  day.    The 

!  provision  in  the  bill  from  the  House  for  the  regi- 

i  ment  and  the  block-houses,  is,  therefore,  not  merely 

i  unnecessary,  but  a  work  of  supererogation— a  sort 

of  superfetation  in  lc;;islation ,    Equally  supererog- 

i  atory,  and  absolutely  impracticable,  is  the   pro- 

'  vision  in  the  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  monthly 

I  mail  between  Missouri  and  Oregon.    Mails  in  an 

i  uninhabited  country  of  more  than  two  thousand 

!  five  hundred  miles,  traversed  by  savages,  and  run- 

i  nin"-  over  mountains  of  seven  or  eight  thousand 

I  feet'^  where  deep  snow  lies  for  more  than  a  thou- 

1  sand  miles  more  than  one-half  the  year,  could  not 

'  be  earriedby  the  solitary  conveyance  of  a  contract- 


32 


or's  mnti  or  hoy.  Pour  or  five  mounted  riflemen, 
goinfj  to£^ellirr,  niid  stiirted  from  tlie  dilKcrcnl  oohIh 
to  relieve  each  other,  nlonc  coidd  do  it.  In  winter, 
they  would  have  slcij^hs  drawn  by  dogs,  the  n.'liefs 
always  being  ready  Ht  each  post.  The  mounted 
regiment,  already  provided  for  in  the  Sennt(  's  bill, 
can  render  thin  Herviee,  coating  nothing,  and  by 
the  mere  order  of  the  President.  No  law  in  neceis- 
sary  about  it.  A  noii-comniis,«ioncd  otTleer  and 
four  or  five  men,  relieved  ot  each  post,  ure  the  only 
practicable  mail-carriers  over  such  a  line;  and  while 
carrying  the  mail,  will  also  he  in  the  line  of  their 
military  duty,  in  looking  out  for  danger,  and  giving 
assistance  to  travellers  and  emigrant.s. 

In  the  land  grants,  the  bill  from  the  Housj  is 
entirely  deficient:  it  proposes  three  hundred  am' 
tv.'enty  acres  to  each  settler.  Now  the  bill  which 
passed  the  Senate  heretofore  gave  double  that 
amount  to  each  father  of  n  family,  and  half  that 
amount  for  each  child  under  eighteen  years  of  age, 
including  the  children  born  within  five  years  after 
he  went  to  the  country,  and  also  half  that  amount 
to  the  wife  in  her  own  right;  and  to  all  single  men 
over  eighteen  years  it  also  gave  six  hundred  and 
forty  ai-res.  Such  beneficial  provisions  as  these, 
once  sanctioned  by  the  Senate,  should  not  be  given 
up  without  an  effort  to  restore  them. 

The  bill,  therefore,  now  before  the  Senate,  is,  in 
some  respects,  unnecessary — in  some,  injurious — 
in  some,  deficient  injustice  to  the  settlers — and,  in 
defining  no  boundaries  for  the  territories  to  be  oc- 
cupied, is  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  country, 
and  commits  the  hazards  of  war  to  the  collisions, 
accidental  or  designed,  of  Government  agents,  four 
thousand  miles  from  the  seat  of  Government.  It 
confounds  temporary  and  permanent  measures, 
which  should  be  kept  distinct.  A  temporary  gov- 
ernment, to  provide  for  the  preservation  of  order 
and  the  administration  of  justice  until  the  conven- 
tion expires,  is  one  want — a  permanent  territorial 
government  is  another;  and,  for  the  purpose  of 
having  these  measures  appropriately  brought  for- 
ward, and  in  a  way  to  pass,  I  shall  move  to  recom- 
mit the  bill  with  instructions  to  bring  in  the  tem- 
porary and  the  permanent  measures  separately: 
namely,  a  temporary  cxtcnbion  of  law  to  the  ex- 
tent recommended  by  the  President,  and  a  plan  for 
a  permanent  territorial  government,  fully  organ 
ized,  to  take  effect  the  instant  the  present  conven- 
tion expires.  These  are  my  views.  I  would  not 
mix  temporary  and  permanent  provisions:  I  would 
do  nothing  half  way,  or  niggardiy.  At  the  termi- 
nation of  the  present  convention,  1  would  take  pos- 
session of  the  territory  to  the  same  exte:itthat  it  was 
held  by  Mr.  Astor — from  the  sea  to  the  mountains — 
and  take  possession  as  an  owner  knowing  its  value, 
and  determined  to  maintain  it.  A  governor  who 
should  be  both  a  statesman  and  a  soldier,  with  an 
adequate  salary,  should  be  at  its  head;  a  distin- 
guished general  should  be  under  him  as  the  imme- 
diate commander  of  the  military  force,  regulars  and 
militia.  A  territorial  legislature — sujierior  and  in- 
ferior courts  of  law  and  equity,  and  of  admiralty 
jurisdiction — and  a  cuHlom-house,  should  be  estab- 
lished. A  skilful  engineer  should  be  sent  out  to 
superintend  the  planning  and  construction  of  forti- 
fications: a  regiment  of  artillery  should  go  to  man 
the  works.    A  navy-yard  should  be  established 


for  the  repair  of  vessels.  The  militia  sliould  be 
organized,  and  divided  into  classes,  ready  for  ser- 
vice when  called,  to  be  compensated  in  land  for 
iiolding  themselves  ready,  and  paid  for  their  ser- 
vices when  in  the  field.  Mounted  gun  men,  cav- 
alry, and  horse  artillery,  so  well  adapted  to  a  coun- 
try of  plains  and  grass,  should  be  relied  on  for  field 
service  against  Indians,  or  any  invader;  artillery 
and  infantry  (regulars  and  militia)  for  the  defence 
of  posts  and  forts.  A  chain  of  Mosts  on  the  com- 
mercial routeof  the  Columbia  aim  Missouri  should 
be  established.  That  route  flanks  the  Dritish  e.s- 
taljlishments,  and  is  open  to  the  depredation  of  tin 
northern  Indians.  Posts  at  the  (Jka-na^-an,  and 
at  the  Upper  Falls  of  the  Columbia — in  the  valley 
of  Clark's  river — at  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missou- 
ri, and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Stone,  should 
be  established.  The  protection  of  Government 
should  be  extended  to  both  routes,  the  land  line  of 
travel  through  the  South  Pass,  and  the  water  line 
of  commerce  through  the  North  Pass.  This 
v/ould  keep  the  Indians  in  order  on  both  routes, 
north  and  south,  a  id  speedily  open  direct  commu- 
nications with  the  Pacific  ocean.  In  a  word,  1 
would  jiiepare  to  take  possession  of  the  country 
(for  its  exclusive  possession  comes  to  ua  under  the 
Ghent  treaty,  whether  Great  Britain  treats  now  or 
not)  on  a  scale  commensurate  to  its  importance 
and  to  our  rank  and  power  in  the  world.  For  this 
purpose  I  would  have  the  bill  recommitted,  and 
the  committee  instructed  to  report  separately  the 
temporary  measure  for  the  preservation  of  order, 
and  the  permanent  government  for  the  territory, 
whicli  I  have  sketched. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  performed  a  painful  duty — 
one  from  which  I  have  long  held  back,  hoping  that 
events  would  correct  the  errors  of  the  day,  and  free 
the  country  from  danger.  There  was  great  danger 
of  war  with  Great  Britain  when  Congress  met  last 
fall,  and  all  upon  a  mistake  and  a  blunder.  War 
speeches  and  war  preparations  were  immediately 
commenced  on  this  floor,  and  the  people  were  in- 
flamed up  to  the  fighting  point.  I  endeavored 
gently  to  quiet  these  dangerous  movements — all  to 
no  purpose.  At  last,  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  my 
country  to  speak  out,  and  to  let  the  people  see  that 
they  liad  been  led  into  great  errors,  and  to  the  brink 
of  war,  by  editors  and  orators,  assuming  to  sneak 
with  great  autliority.  I  know  the  frailty  anu  the 
vanity  of  poor  human  nature,  and  how  hard  it  is 
for  party  leaders  to  admit  a  mistake  which  they 
have  induced  myriads  of  good  men  to  adopt.  The 
leaders  are  ashamed  to  retract:  not  so  the  mass  of 
their  followers.  They  have  no  interest  in  being 
deceived,  and  no  petty  vanity  to  be  mortified  at 
the  retraction  of  error.  Tliey  only  wish  for  what 
is  right  and  honorable,  and  with  them  truth  pre- 
vails, and  error  passes  away.  P'or  two  years  the 
people  have  been  indoctrinated  with  a  Russian  line 
upon  54*-*  40',  from  the  sea  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, the  Russians  owning  all  north,  and  we  all 
south,  and  leaving  no  room  for  Great  Britain  be- 
tween. Well!  the  treaties  supposed  to  establish 
this  boundary,  and  thus  to  cut  out  Great  Britain, 
arc  produced,  and  tliey  show  that  there  is  no  such 
line — that  the  United  States  line  with  Russia  is  in- 
sular, and  not  continental;  and  that  Russia,  by 
treaty,  admits  the  Britisli  title  quite  out  to  the  Fro- 


33 


zen  ocenn,  Rnd  covering  the  exact  nlacc  where  tlie 
boundary  of  54°  40'  wns  suppopecl  lo  be  establish- 
ed!   Tlie  treaties  show  thia;  and  tlicir  production 
is  enougii  for  ihoHc  who  have  been  deceived  into 
the  belief  of  n  54"  40'  boundary.     Again:  for  two_ 
years  tlie  people  have  been  deluded  into  the  belief 
that  this  54°  40'  was  their  true  and  rightful  north- 
ern boundary  !  The  Executive  documents  of  IS^a- 
'24  were  produced;  and  they  show  that  the  slatra- 
men  who  made  the  treaties   supposed  to  give  us 
thia  northern  boundary,  actually  proposed  it,  at  the 
time,  over  and  over  again,  to  (.neat  Britain,  ns  her 
northern  boundary,  coming  down  to  49  for  cpian- 
tily,  and  that,  not  upon  a  principle  of  compromise, 
but  of  right,  to  cover  her  settlements  in  the  valley 
of  Frazer's  river;  settlements  well  known  to  the 
et'Hesmen  of  that  day,  however  unknown  to  the 
brave   fifty-four-forlies  of  the  present  day.     For 
two  years  the  people  have  been  told  that  every 
acre  and  every  inch — every  grain  of  sand,  blade  of 
grass,  and  drop  of  water,  from  42  to  .54  40,  is  ours. 
Geogrophy,  history,  and  the  maps  are  produced, 
and  show  that  Frazer's  river  (lowsfroin  .')5  to  49 — 


ana 

discovered  by  the  British  in  179.*J— settled  by  them 
in  180G — covered  from  head  to  mouth  with  their 
settlements,  and  known  by  the  Scottish  niune  of 
New  Caledonia  when  we  negotiated  with  Spain  in 
1819:  and  then  the  Executive  documents  are  pro- 
duced, which  show  that  this  river  and  its  settle- 
inents  were  admitted  to  be  British  property  by  Mr. 
Monroe's  Administration,  who  no  more  set  up  a 
title  to  it  under  the  Spanish  treaty  of  1819  than  they 
set  upa  title  to  Canada  under  the  same  treaty.  Yet 
our  warlike  fifty-four-forties  opened  the  session 
■with  demands  for  ships  and  troops  to  fight  Great 
Britain  for  this  very  Frazer's  river!  A  demand 
which  put  her  up  to  ships  and  troops  on  her  side, 
until  she  saw  that  these  intrepid  invaders  of  New 
Caledonia  would  be  set  right  at  liome.  From  that 
moment  her  war  fever  abated;  the  war  fever  of  our 
valiant  invaders  aba'cd  also:  they  now  cry  war  no 
more;  and,  to  do  them  entire  Jusjjce,  I  verily  be- 
lieve they  had  never  heard  of  Prazer's  river  at  the 
time  they  proposed  to  walk  over  it  in  their  march 
to  fifty-four  forty.  They  are  now  peaceable  enough ; 
an(i  all  we  have  to  regret  is,  the  discredit  w;hich 
theii'  want  of  acquaintance  with  our  own  treaties — 
want  of  acquaintance  with  our  own  documents — 
and  wantof  acquaintance  with  ourown  geopraphy, 
has  brouglit  upon  us  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  and 
America. 

The  danger  is  passed.  The  language  and  con- 
duct of  Great  Britain  is  pacific — perfectly  so.  She 
was  a  little  rufiied  at  first;  as  who  would  not  be  at 
the  menaced  invasion  of  a  province  ?  But  since  she 
has  seen  that  the  invaders  are  brought  to  a  stand 
at  home,  t^he  seems  to  liave  recovered  her  good 
humor,  and  the  Oregon  question  has  nearly  died 
out  with  her.  Now,  everybody  is  looking  for  a 
settlement  of  it  on  the  basis  of  the  old  oft'ers  of 
1807,  1818,  IS'SS.  These  offers  I  digested  into  the 
form  of  two  resolutions  in  1828,  in  Executive  ses- 
sion of  the  Senate,  with  a  view,  by  their  adoption, 
to  prevent  the  ratification  of  the  renewed  joint  oc- 
cupation convention  which  we  are  now  all  so  de- 
'  termined  to  get  rid  of.  These  resolutions  have 
been  read  once  to  the  Senate,  but  I  will  read  theiri 
again,  not  to  show  my  consistency,  (for  my  ambi- 


tion is  to  be  right,  and  to  get  right  by  changing, 
when  standing  still  becomes  error;)  but  to  ehoko 
the  quibblers  and  garblers  who  mutilate  and  mis- 
apply my  words,  lo  get  nie  into  the  same  box  they 
arc  in  themselves.  Sir,  I  came  into  the  Senate  be- 
fore the  fathers  of  the  church  had  all  left  it,  and 
when  it  was  the  custom  of  the  young  Senators  to 
listen  to  the  old  ones,  and  not  to  tnrottle  them;  and 
when,  I  flatter  myself,  I  learnt  something;  and, 
among  other  things,  learnt  that  49  was  the  proper 
boundary  between  our  Columl)ia  river  and  the  Brit- 
ish Frazer's  river.  Upon  this  knowledge  i  acted 
in  drawing  these  resolutions  eighteen  years  ago; 
and  I  have  nothing  to  add,  or  to  take  from  them, 
to-day. 

"Ill  Senate:  secret  Session:  Tuesday,  Feb.  5,  1828. 
"  Mr.  Benton's  Resolutions. 
"  Rc.ioltcd,  Thnt  it  is  not  cxppdiont  for  tlie  Govornmcnt 
rif  the  United  States  to  treiU  witli  Ins  Hritannie  Mnjesty,  in 
relerence  to  tlioir  teriitorlnl  cliiiins  nnd  l«>  •ndiirioa  west  of 
tlie  Rocky  Mountuiiif,  upon  tln^  liiusis  of  a  joint  oeenpatioa 
hy  the  citixeiiB  of  lliu  United  Stntes  nnd  suliJectJi  of  Great 
Kritaiii,  of  Uie  conntrv  eliiiined  byeneh  Power. 

"  Risolncd,  That  it  is  expedient  for  the  Government  of  the 
Uniti'd  Hmtes  to  treat  with  his  liritannie  Majesty  in  refer- 
ence to  said  claims  andlioiindaries,  upon  the  basis  of  a  sejn 
aration  of  interests,  and  the  establishment  of  the  49th  degree 
of  north  lalitudt;  us  a  perinaaent  boundary  between  them, 
in  tlie  shortest  possible  time." 

These  resolutions  were  offered  in  secret  session, 
as  it  was  proper  to  offer  them,  but  have  long 
since  been  made  public,  with  other  proceedings  on 
the  ratification  of  the  renewed  joint-occupation 
convention  in  1828.  They  are  known  to  the  lead- 
ers, if  not  to  the  followers  of  the  fifty-four-forties, 
and  would  be  appealed  to  by  all  who  would  wish 
to  rejiresent  my  opinions  as  they  are,  and  not  aa 
they  are  not ! 

I  have  no  personal  interest  in  this  matter.  After 
long  delay  I  have  spoken  publicly  (for  my  opin- 
ions were  never  a  secret)  what  my  duty  to  my 
country  required  at  my  hands,  and  according  to 
the  knowledge  which  thirty  years'  study  of  the 
suliject  has  given  to  me.  I  have  been  fighting  the 
battle  of  Oregon  for  thirty  years,  and  when  it  had 
but  few  friends,  though  now  entirely  eclipsed  by 
the  new  converts.  1  am  where  I  always  have 
been,  and  rejoice  to  see  thequQSlion  coming  to  the 
conclusion  which  I  have  always  tleemed  the  right 
one.  For  my  justification  in  making  head  against 
so  much  error,!  throw  myself  upon  the  equity  and 
intelligence  of  my  countrymen;  and,  never  having 
had  any  fear  for  myself,  I  now  have  none  for  my 
country. 

Mr.  BENTON  then  moved  to  recommit  the 
bill  to  the  Committee  on  Territories,  amended  on 
the  motion  of-  his  colleague,  [Mr.  Atchison,]  to 
recommit  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  with  in- 
structions to  report  as  follows: 

That  the  bill  be  rcenmmiUed  to  the  Committee  on  the  Ju- 
diiiary,  with  in^triietion;?— 

First.  Ti  bring  in  an  amendment  extending  the  jurisdic- 
tion and  laws  of  the  United  States,  civil  and  eriniinal,  over 
the  citizens  of  the  United  S.ates  in  Oregon,  to  the  siune  ex- 
tent lliat  Great  Britain  extended  her  jurisdiction  and  laws 
over  her  citizens  in  the  same  territory  by  the  act  of  Farlia- 
ineiit  of  July  9,  1821,  and  supplemental  act. 

Secondly.  To  report  a  biit  lor  the  fuii  and  perfect  govern- 
ment of  the  territory,  to  take  effect  after  the  abrogation  of 
the  joint-usj  convention,  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a 
governor,  to  be  the  militarx  and  civil  chief  of  the  territory,  and, 
ex  officio,  superintendent  of  Indian  afiairs ;  providiug  aI)JO 


%     ;  I 
I  I 


84 


for  ft  torritorliil  logi^lnruri-,  nw\  for  thr  iidininiHtrntion  of  ju»- 

f  ini  th.^  ninullM.I  flip  C.li.iiil.iii  riv.T,Hii(l  (.lli.r  |K.tiilH,  nn.l 

bv  "slu '  Wiii'K  u  <  olhiclinn  distfi.t  unci  (•UHt..iii  Imun.,  ii. 
<7r..^  n     n".  t.M.r"Vi.l.  Cnr  ll...  .e-..rity  of  ""viK;';';;';;  'V 

«...     Tl.H  l.<u.n.l.ri..H  ..r  H.ii,l  territory  to  ..•  .,..1.  oi.  U..; 
not    an  umy  I..!  .•hIhI.IUI.c.I  bytr.Mityw.il.  «r.;»n  rlt.. ..  . 

north  ItttlluUc. 

APPENDIX 
TO  Mil.  UENTON'S  til'EKCH  ON  OnECiOM. 

1. NORTH  AMERICAN  ROAD  TO  INDIA. 

Exlradsfrom  emiyswrilten  andpuhlishtd  at  St.  Louis, 
in  laii),  by  Thomas  H.  Benton. 

OHECON. — ASIATfC  COMMERCE. 
CoMMFROE  WITH  A»iA  :-aoiiulit  rtlYcr  by  nil  niitions_Aii- 
rTeni  o^m.m.^l«  "I'  tl"^  co„.,„crc..-IU  in.j.Krn  o  .i.n.,.|H- 
New  n  .11.)  |..'opn9«.l  for  tl.e  pcoplo  of  tho  UMif.l  Status 
bv  Uie  Colu. .1.1.1  n..<l  Missouri  .ivors-Pract.rab.  ily  ot 
tl.is  roiitc-rr.'fcrenrfi  .l.io  to  it,  in  sl.ortn.'fls  of  .l.stnnce ; 
i    sntVly;  in  rl..'apn.-B<.  of  tra.iHportatlon ;  ...  8i,l.sl.li.t...(! 
B .  "xclmnKe  of  <.on..no.lilifs  for  a  tradn  .n  jiold  .ii.d  r.  I- 
v"r-Oll..>r  ndvantauLS  i..  r.n.d.'ri..s  tl.n  c(.n....froo  ol  t  ..> 

r.M  ...bli"  ind.  p.'i.d,M.t  of  ICuropc ;  in  K.v.n»  to  t ..;  re,mb.o 
t.o"om.n.i..doftho  North  Pacific  ocj.in;  >..  b.v...«  o  tl„ 
n'mihlk"  1..'  .......opoly  of  tl..!  Ka.st  l..d.a  trad.-hll..a  o 

I .  "    onopoly  01.  tl...-  wealth  a..d  pow.-r  of  tl.«  re|...bl.n 

0  thewealthand  pow.^r  of  lOnglan.l;  on  tl..;  wealth  a.i.l 
novvc!  of  U..ssia;  o..  th.'  roli^-iouHmid  pol.t.cal  con.l.t.oi,  ol 
CTeonlc  of  A^la-Ktfoel  of  thn  ...ilitary  .>xpfd.tio..  to  th. 

1  ■»  r  MiH°o..riin  layini?  op.M.  the  new  ront.^-Rlh-ot  o  an 
X  .'proaTuX.panyinlur..i..3theI.:a.<tI..d 
tti '  new  roule-Pr.)  .H-l  ofa  fur  <oi..pa..y  with  a  v.c  w  to  that 
Swt-Wea  of  the  val,.,-  and  present  con,  it.on  o  the  f\jr 
?r  .le  in  North  A.ne.ic.n,  as  c.rriud  ....  by.the  l'n«l.>f  !  '  V 
the  Russians;  by  the  A.nericans-C.uta.n  eBtal.lisl....c.;t 
of  U  e "Te™^^  i..„uediately,  with  the  a.d  of  the  A.ner.- 
cL.  Go"  m,ine..t,  eve..tually,  l.y  the  force  of  clrcuinstanccs 
ond  the  natural  proj^ress  of  events. 

I    Commerce  xnth  .^stn.— Spices,  aynitiatics,  pre- 
cious stones,  porcelains,  cottons,  silks,  and  teas, 
are  the  articles  of  Asiatic  comir.erce.    Silver  and 
eold  are  the  articles  with  which  they  are  purchased. 
Prom  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world,  the  precious 
metals  have  flowed  into  Asia;  and  this  drain,  which 
has  been  incessant  for  several  thousantl  years,  hjis 
become  still  more  enormous  in  later  limes     Ihe 
Americans  alone  have  carried  twelve  mi  ions  to 
eastern  Asia  within  the  last  year,  eight  millions  of 
which  were  carried  to  Canton,  and  exchanged  for 
tea,  silk,  porcelain,  and  cottons.    This  course  of 
trade  has  occasioned  a  prodigious  accumulation  of 
the  precious  metals  in  eastern  Asia;  for  what  is  car- 
ried there  remains  there,  there  being  nothing  in  the 
commercial  or  political  relationsof  the.countnes  to 
create  a  counter  current,  and  brins  it  back  in  o 
Europe  or  America.    To  stop  this  Jrain ,  and  sub- 
stitute for  it  a  trade  in  barter,  would  be  an  object 
of  the  first  interest  with  any  country,  especially 
with  the  United  States,  wluch  have  no  mines  to 
supply  a  drain  so  incessentand  so  enormous     lo 
TLther,  to  create  a  chimge  which  would  draw 
back  a  part  of  the  gold  and  silver  which  has  accii- 
mulatetf  in  Asia,  would  be  a  commercial  operation 
which  no  nation  has  yd  accomplished,  a.id  ^v  hic  . 
would  open  a  vein  of  unrivallet    richness      Both 
Jf  these  operations  arc  practicable,  not  by  the  Eu- 
ropeans, 4ho  hive  nothing  which  they  cou  d  sub- 
sSute  for  silver,  pr  by  the  Amencaus  whdc  they 


follow  the  track  of  the  rfiople  of  Europe.    \  ct 
there  ai-e  articlca  for  which  the  Asiatics  would  not 
only  Kive  llio  rich  productions  of  their  country, 
but  freely  exchange  their  gold  and  silver,  if  brou^'hl 
into  their  market  by  any  nation.    These  urlicleH 
are  rtms  and  iibkad.    Of  the  former,  Lur.mo  haa 
none  to  send,  of  the  latter  but  little;  and  il  she  had 
any  to  spare,  her  geographical  position,  the  vast 
distance   which  intervenes,  would  prevent  its  ex- 
portation.    America,  on  the  contrary,  abounds  iii 
both  these  articles— tl.e  fast  has  been  blindly  aban- 
doned to  our  enemies;  tiie  second  has  not  been 
carried  to  Asia,  because  the  Americans  servilely 
follow  the  track  of  the  Europeans,  and  are  still 
more  remote  than  they  from  the  seat  of  commerce. 
The  American  navigator  sails  to  the  east.ti-averses 
30,000  miles  of  sea,  doubles  ii  stormy  and  tcmiiest- 
uous  cape,  in  order  to  arrive  in  what  is  called  the 
East  Indies.    In  the  meantime,  what  was  the  Kast 
Indies  to  the  ancients  are  the  West  Indies  to  the 
Americans;  for  they  lie  to  the  west  of  us.  and  but 
a  few  days'  sail  from  our  own  coast.    The  western 
shore  of  North  America  and  the  eastern  shore  ot 
Asia  front  each  other— the  mild  and  tranouil  waves 
of  the  Pacific  ocean  alone  intervene— in  the  broad- 
est part  as  narrow  as  the  Atlantic,  and  in  the  nar- 
rowest, at  Behring's  Straits,  only   thirty  miles 
apart.     Instead  of  going  to  the  east,  Americans 
ahould  therefore  go  to  the  west,  to  arrive  m  Asia; 
and  taking  that  route,  they  would  mimedia  cly  be 
able  to  carry  furs  and  bread  into  the  markets  of 
Asia,  the  first  of  which  is  iiow.pillaged  from  them 
by  Englishmen  and   Russians,  the  latter  would 
have  to' be  raised  from  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Co- 
lumbia  river.  ^     .       ,,  .  . 

II.  Sowrlit  after  .y  all  naaons,--During  thirty 
centuries  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  flocked  to 
Asia  in  search  of  its  rich  commerce.    Sacred  and 
profane  history  exhibit  the  same  picture,  of  mer- 
chants loaded  with  gold  and  silver,  tnxversing  the 
deserts  on  camels,  or  the  trackless  sea  in  shms  in 
search  of  the  rich  productions  of  the  cast      I'rom 
the  time  of  theThanicians  to  the  English  of  the 
present  day,  the"  countries  of  eastern  Asia  have 
Leen  the  chief  theatres  of  commercial  cnterju-ise; 
and  the  nation  which  shared  this  commerce  m  the 
hi-hest  degree,  has  acquired  in  all  ages  the  hrst 
rank  in  the  arts,  the  sciences,  in  national  power 
and  individual  >.4alth.     And  such  vn"  F"baWy  be 
the  case  to  the  end  of  the  world      i^a  ure  h.^s 
madebut  one  Asia.but  one  country  abounding  with 
the  rich  t.roductions  which  are  found  in  tlic  Kast 
Indies;  and  while  mankind  continue  to  love  spices 
and  aromatics,  precious  stones,  poj-celains,  fine 
cottons,  silks  tmi  teas,  the  trade  with  Asia  mus 
continue  to  be  sought  after  as  the  brightest  jewel 
in  the  diaiem  of  commerce. 

III.  Jincient  channels  of  this  commerce.— I  hese 

may  be  traced  by  the  ruins  of  the  great  cities 

which  grew  up  with  the  possession  of  this  trade, 

and  perished  with  its  loss. 

Tyre.  "Quern  o/Cito."  was  its  first  emporium 


Tl^VommlrcT'of  UiTe'ast  "centered  there  before 
,lie  ..,^.ivirv  of  the  Jews  in  Babylon,  upwards  of 
six  hdndre'd  years  before  the  coming  fj^^'^^'' 
(Rollin.)  She  traded  to  Arabia,  Persia  .and  India. 
Her  route  was  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  t  e 
coast  of  Egypt,  over  land  to  the  Red  Sea  by  the 


35 


Isthmus  of  Suez,  down  the  lied  Son,  nnd  tlirnrc 
oftst  l)y  conHting  voynfi^VM  to  the  countries  about  the 
Gulf  of  Pfrsiii  nnd  mouths  of  the  river  Indus.  The 
poNSPssion  of  this  comnirrce  miuhs  Tyre  the  ricli- 
CHl  luid  the  proudest  rity  in  the  universe;  s;nve  her 
the  commiuid  of  the  sens;  "maik  her  trajfkkerii  the 
honnrahles  nf  the  tarlh"  {Isaiah,)  nnd  cnal)led  her 
iiicrciiantH  to  dispute  with  kings  in  the  splendor  of 
their  livina;  nnd  the  vastncos  of  their  expenses. 
Nehuchudnczznr,  king  of  Unbylon,  conquered 
Tyre,  nnd  razed  it  to  its  foundations;  but  he  did 
not  found  «  rival  city,  and  the  continuance  of  the 
Indin  trade  imnicdiutely  nistored  the  **(luecn  of 
Cities"  to  all  her  former  degrees  of  power  and  pre- 
eminence. Alexander  conquered  her  again,  found- 
ed a  rival  city  on  the  const  of  Egypt,  nnd  Tyre 
became  "a  p'.i'.e  for  fishermen  to  dry  their  net«," 
(Ezekid.) 

The  .Tews,  in  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon, 
succeeded  to  the  Indin  trade.  Their  route  wnsthe 
same  whi(di  the  Phmnicians  followed  from  Tyre, 
nnd  their  country  became  the  theatre  of  wealth, 
and  their  kings  the  arbiters  of  surrounding  nations. 

In  the  reign  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  King  of  Per- 
sia, a  new  route  was  opened  with  India.  It  lay 
from  the  borders  of  Persia  through  the  Caspiiui 
Sen,  up  the  river  Oxus  to  the  mountains  which  di- 
vide it  from  the  river  Indus,  across  thone  motm- 
tains  with  the  aid  of  the  Bactrinn  camel,  and  thence 
down  the  river  Indus  to  the  countries  about  its 
mouth,  then  the  chief  .seat  of  the  India  trnde,  nnd 
the  limit  of  the  nncient.s  in  their  trade  to  the  cast. 
This  route  covered  a  distance  of  three  thousand 
miles:  six  hundred  on  the  Caspian  Sea,  nine  hun- 
dred on  the  Oxus,  two  or  three  hundred  overland 
crossing  the  mountains,  and  about  twelve  hundred 
on  the  river  Indus. 

The  foundation  of  Alexandria  created  a  new  em- 
porium, and  opened  a  new  route  for  the  commerce 
of  the  east,  chosen  with  so  much  judgment,  that  it 
continued  to  be  followed  from  the  time  of  Alexan- 
der the  Great,  upwards  of  300  years  before  Christ, 
'ill  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  This  channel  was  along  the  ca- 
nal of  Alexandria  to  the  Nile,  up  the  Nile  to  Cop- 
tus,  thence  across  the  desert  with  camels  to  the 
Red  Sea,  nnd  thence  a  coasting  voyage  to  the 
mouths  of  the  Indus.  The  Romans,  in  the  flour- 
ishing times  of  the  republic  and  of  the  empire, 
derived  their  supplies  of  India  goods  through  this 
channel. 

In  the  same  age  another  channel  was  opened  with 
India.  It  lay  overland,  across  the  desert,  from  the 
bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  the  river  Eu- 
phrates, down  that  river  to  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  and 
thence  by  the  usual  coasting  voyage  to  the  mouths 
of  the  Indus.  The  distance  between  the  sea  and 
the  Euphrates  (two  hundred  miles)  required  a  sta- 
tion between  them.  It  was  found  in  a  grove  of 
palm  trees;  a  fertile  spot,  well  watered,  in  the  midst 
of  sands,  about  midway  between  the  sea  and  the 
river.  Its  mhahitants  entered  with  ardor  intc  the 
trade  of  conveying  comntodities  from  the  river  to 
the  sea.  As  the  most  valuable  productions  of  In- 
dia, brought  up  the  Euphrates  from  the  Persian 
Gulf,  were  of  such  small  bulk  as  to  bear  the  ex- 
pense of  a  long  land  carriage,  this  trade  soon  be- 
came so  considerable  that  the  opulence  and  power 


of  Palmyra  increaied  rnpidly.  (Roherlson.)  It« 
government  was  best  .suited  to  thegeniuaof  a  com- 
mercial city— REprBLicAN.  {Pliny  the  Elder.)  This 
spot  thei  '>egnn  to  exhibit  the  wonders  of  which 
commerce  is  cnpable.  From  a  trading  station,  it 
l)ecnme  an  opulent  city,  the  capital  of  a  great  em- 
pire, the  seat  of  science  and  the  arts,  the  rival  of 
llome.  Rome  would  bear  no  rival.  One  of  the 
most  powerful  of  the  emperors  (Aurelinn)  carried 
the  arms  of  the  empire  against  the  "  City  of  Com- 
merce.'''' Palmyra  was  subdued;  its  trnde  diverted 
to  other  channels;  and  the  rtiins  of  temples  arrest 
the  admiration  of  the  traveller  on  the  spot  which 
was  once  the  seat  of  so  much  power  and  magnifi- 
cence.    ( y'olney.) 

After  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Mahome- 
dans,  the  people  of  the  Roman  empire  were  shut 
out  tVom  the  port  of  Alexnndrin.  This  gave  rise 
to  tile  opening  of  A  new  chnnnel  for  the  Iruiia 
trade.  Con.stnntinonle  became  its  emporium.  This 
route  lay  through  the  Black  Sea  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Phasis;  up  that  river  and  by  a  land  car- 
riage of  five  days  to  the  river  Cyrus,  down  it  to 
the  Caspian  Sea;  acro.=;s  this  sen  three  hundred 
miles,  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Oxus;  up  that 
river  nine  hundied  miles,  to  the  city  of  Marcanda, 
now  Samarcnnd;  thence  across  the  mountains  to 
the  countries  upon  the  river  Indus,  or  eastward  by 
a  journey  of  eighty  or  a  hundred  days,  with  the 
Bactrinn  camel,  through  desert  countries  and  wart- 
dering  nations  which  considered  the  merchant 
ns  their  prey,  to  the  western  provinces  of  the 
Chinese  empire,  {Pliny  the  Elder.)  This  route, 
though  long  and  perilous,  made  Constantinople  the 
empfirium  of  the  India  trade  for  all  Christian  na- 
tions for  several  centuries  after  the  conquest  of 
Egypt  by  tlie  Mahomedans,  and  made  it  the  seat 
of  'wealth  and  power  for  many  ages  afler  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  empire., 

IV.  .Modern  c/iaurif/s.— Constantinople  contin- 
ued 'o  be  the  emporium  of  the  India  trade  till  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  Venetians  and  Genoese 
engatred  in  it.  They  established  trading  houses 
in  Constantinople,  and  rose  to  power  nnd  pre-emi- 
nence from  the  profits  of  this  trade.  Their  fleets 
commanded  the  seas,  nt  a  time  when  fleets  were 
yet  unknown  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  the  citi- 
zen.^  of  these  republics  displayed  a  magnificence  in 
their  living  which  surf)assed  the  state  of  the  great- 
est monarchs  beyond  the  Alps,  {Robertson.)  From 
Venice  and  Genoa  the  commerce  of  Asia  spread 
into  the  north  of  Europe.  Bruges  and  Antwerp 
became  its  cmporin,  and  retain  to  thi?  day  evident 
signs  of  the  wealth  and  splondor  to  which  they 
attained.  This  was  the  longest  and  most  perilous 
route  over  which  the  commerce  of  India  has  been 
conducted.  It  is  truly  astonishing  to  think  of  it. 
From  Bruges  and  Antwerp  to  Genoa  and  Venice, 
thence  to  Constantinople,  across  the  Black  Sea, 
across  the  Ctispian  Sea,  u|i  the  river  Oxus  to  Sam- 
arcand,  the  limit  of  Alexander's  march  towards 
the  northeast  of  Asa:  and  at  Samarcand  it  seemed 
tlmt  the  journey  was  only  beginning,  as  there  com- 
menced the  voyage  overland  with  the  Bactrian 
camel,  through  desert  regions  and  nations  of  rob- 
bers, to  be  continued  from  eighty  to  a  hundred 
days  to  arrive  in  the  western  provinces  of  China, 
where  the  most  valuable  productions  of  the  East 


36 


were  llicii  found.     Yot  an  erent  were  the  profitg  of 
tho  tnidr,  ih«t,  und.Tull  tluiso  diHiuKuiit'iL'M.  tlic 
Cilitics  of  Coii«t«„ii„o|,lt.,  of  Veniru,  .uid   Urn,,,, 
or  Urugesnijd  Antwerp,  l.econn;  llio  hviUh  of  Itarii- 
JnK  uiul  refinom.'iit,  of  luxury  and  nm-nifi.i.n.r 
of   inuritim,;  and  niilitury  power,  wUvn  all  otlirr 
pans  of  huropc  wero  Munk  in  poverty  und  ijjno- 
ranoo,  darkiu'Hs  and  liarharisni. 

Towanrs  the  end  of  the  l.^th  eentury,  the  Cnpe 
of  Good  Hope  was  doubled.  A  new  route  w'im 
then  opened  nito  India.  Tiie  Portn-tie.se,  wii.. 
made  :iiis  discovery,  hecnnio  the  ninstcrH  of  tiie 
liidui  trade,  destroyed  the  (lects  of  the  Turks  and 
Venetians  which  were  launched  upon  the  Red  Sea 
to  keep  open  the  ancient  channel  thronirh  K-ynt 
nnd  cstahh.shed  ii  .•.oniniercial  empire  in  Imlli' 
i'ortuga  then  became  one  of  tiiu  most  powerful* 
nations  by  sea  and  land,  and  Lisbon  the  centre  of 
iiiuropean  vv<;alth  and  r.ommrrcc. 

The  passage  by  the  Cujie  of  Good  Hope  (some- 
times by  Cai)e  Horn)  has  since  continued  to  be 
tlic  route  of  India. 

The  Portuguese  did  not  Ions  retain  llieir  monop- 
olies. Ihe  Dutcli  bucmue  their  competitors,  and 
soon  after  their  successor  in  the  India  trade.  Poi- 
tuf,'al  declined  to  its  orii,'iiial  insi:,'nificance      Hoi 


arrive  m  a  comury  wliich  is  only  a  few  dayn'  sail 

from  th.jr  „wn  continent.     They  do  thin  becauso 

the  people  ..(  ICnrope,  who  can  do  no  better,  have 

done  NO  before  them.     In  the  meunli|ne  the  elforU 

or  the  I'.n^:hNh  to  discover  rt  northwi-st  pasNa-,'o  to 

A.sia,  should  convince  ihcm   that  even  the  I'3uro- 

lirans   would    not  submit  to  circumnavi-ate   the 

KloI.e  111  their  vovusje  to  India,  if  a  western  route 

could  be  fuiiiid  throu-h,  or  Mn.iiifd,  the  northern 

pans  ol   tlie  American  continent.     .Siill,  with  all 

Ihe  daiifrcrs  added  to  the  length  of  the  voyai,'e,  IIiq 

La.n  India  trade  is  the  richest  vein  of  American 

commerce,  and  soonest  leads  to  the  most  Hi.lendid 

lortunes;  convincing  proof  of  what  it  would  be  if 

a  new  route  was  opened,  exclusively  American, 

short,  safe,  cheap,  and  direct,  and  .subistitutinK  u 

trade  m  barter  fur  the  present  ruinous  drain  of  "old 

und  silver. 

V.  Mw  route  proposed, fhr  the  people  of  the  United 
Stdten  by  Ihe  Cotumbiu  and  JMissonri  rhers Colum- 
bus was  the  first  who  conceived  the  idea  of  "oiii" 


Jand  rose  to  wealth  and  power  by  sea  and  land 
«uid    Amsterdam   became  tho  imncipal   mart   of 
liurope. 

The  English  followed  tho  Dutch,  and  have  sur- 
rassed  all  their  predecessors  in  the  successful  pros- 
ecution of  the  India  trade.  A  company  of  their 
merclutiits  have  erected  an  empire  in  India,  main- 
teincd  fleets  and  armies,  subjugated  vast  empires, 
dethroned  powerful  moimrchs,  disposed  of  kiii"-- 
donis  and  principalities  as  other  merchants  dis- 
pose of  bales  of  merchandise;  and  with  the  riches 
thence  derived,  England  (a  spot  no  larger  than 
one  of  odr  States)  has  been  able  to  contend  sin"-|e- 
handed  OMinst  the  combined  powers  of  Europe 
to  triumph  over  them,  and  to  impress  her  policy! 
more  or  less,  upon  every  quarter  of  tho  globe. 

One  other  route,  among  the  modern  channels  of 
India  commerce,  remains  to  be  mentioned.     It  is 
the  line  followed  by  the  Russians  from  the  city  of 
Moscow  to  the  frontiers  of  China.     By  this  route 
the  Russians  carry  on  a  trade  with  China  worth 
three  or  four  millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  in 
which  the  ])roductions  of  the  respective  countries 
are  bartered  against  each  other,  almost  the  only 
instance  of  trade  by  barter  which  any  nation  has 
carried  on  with  the  people  of  tho  East,  but  sulfi- 
cient  to  show  that  there  are  articles  for  which  the 
Chinese  will  barter  the  rich  productions  of  their 
country.     This  route  is  often  made  entirely  over 
land,  and  is  then  upwards  of  six  thousaiul  miles 
in  length;  sometimes  by  the  river  Wolga,  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  and  the  river  Oxus.and  thence  over  land 
by  the  ancient  route  from  Coiistahtino]>le,  which 
increases  the  distance  but  relieves  in  some  decree 
the  labor  of  the  voyage  by  substituting  for  a  part 
of  the  way  water  for  land  carriage. 

Servilely  following  the  Europeans  in  almost 
everything,  t'xu  people  of  the  United  States  also 
follow  them  in  their  route  to  India.  Tlioy  quit 
Asia  as  it  wrre,  leave  it  behind  them,  to  sail  thirty 
thousand  miles,  doubling  a  formidable  cape  and 
braving  ihc  dangers  of  a  tempestuous  sea,  to 


west  to  arrive  at  the  East  Indies.  Hi»  disccTvery 
of  America  wos  owing  to  that  idea.  He  was  in 
search  of  a  western  passage  to  the  eastern  coast  of 
Asia  when  he  was  arrested  by  the  unexpected  in- 
tervention of  the  American  continent.  Nor  had 
he  any  idea  that  he  had  found  a  new  world.  He 
believed  himself  on  the  coast  of  India,  and  under 
that  belief  gave  the  name  of  Indians  to  the  inhabi- 
tants; a  name  which  they  have  retained  ever  since, 
although  the  error  on  which  it  was  founded  has 
been  h)ng  since  exploded.     (Robertson.) 

La  Salle,  founder  of  the  French  colony  in  the 
valley  of  the  Mississip|.i--a  man  pronounced  by 
Jylr.  Adams  to  be  second  only  to  C(dumbus  in  the 
list  of  great  discoverers— was  the  next  who  cher- 
ished the  idea  of  going  west  to  India.  The  French 
were  tlien  masters  of  the  Caimdas,  and  were,  daily 
extending  their  discoveries  to  the  interior  of  North 
Anieri(;a.  The  existence  of  a  chain  of  great  lakes 
stretching  westward  being  ascertained,  he  believed 
that  an  inland  passage  to  China  might  be  discov- 
ered by  means  of  these  lakes  and  the  rivers  flow- 
ing .Vom  them  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  (Sloddart.) 
I'ull  of  this  idea,  he  left  Moiuroal  about  the  year 
1()8(),  in  the  hope  of  immortali/ing  himself  by 
opening  to  his  country  a  new  and  direct  rf)uto  to 
the  commerce  of  the  East  Indies.  Parting  from 
his  friends  eight  miles  above  Montreal,  the  last 
word  he  said  to  them  was  China,  and  the  spot  re- 
tains tho  name  (La  Chine)  ever  since.  But  death 
arrested  him  in  the  valley  of  the  Arkansas,  the  fate 
which  Columbus  had  so  narrowly  escaped,  that  of 
being  assassinated  by  his  own  followers,  who  had 
not  courage  to  follow  him  any  further. 

The  English,  of  all  others  the  most  avaricious 
of  the  India  trade,  also  turned  their  views  to  the 
discovery  of  u  western  passage  to  Asia.  A  ])a3- 
sage  round  the  American  continent  above  Hud- 
son's Bay,  was  for  a  long  time  a  favorite  object 
with  the  Englisl)  government,  and  still  occujjies 
Its  attention.  Numerous  squadrons  have  been 
♦.tied  out,  and  repeateilly  nttcmpfed  the  pa-ssugc, 
sometimes  from  the  northwest  by  Behring's  Straits, 
sometimes  by  the  northeast  through  Hudson's 
Bay  and  Davis's  Straits.  The  multiplied  cflorts  to 
discover  this  passage  show  the  value  which  tlie 
English  place  on  the  discovery  of  a  direct  route  to 


87 


Aoia.  nut  tliry  linvo  not  /onfined  ilifimm'lvcs  to 
BL'ii  V()ya<,'cH.  Takih),'  up  llic  iilci\  of  Lu  HnWv, 
tli(!y  have  ni)u;,'IiI  an  inland  |)aHJias;(;  \iy  nicann  of 
rivtr><  and  lakt's.  TIhn  projtict  wu.s  t-'iitiuNtrd  to 
Mt;Kt'nzio.  Ciyifiutd  to  tlic  northern  parts  of  our 
continent,  lio  could  otdy  prosecute  U\n  diNcoveries 
nonii  of  the  heads  of  the  MiHsixMippinnd  Miwiouri 
rivers,  lie  was  confined  to  high  luuthern  lati- 
tudes, l)Ut  Nuciu'cded  in  nhowinj;  theexinicnce  of  n 
water  connnunication,  with  a  lew  porta;;eN,  from 
Hudson 'h  Bay,  ninth  latituih)  5.'>  to  the  Pacific 
ocean  ni  tlu;  tn)rth  latitude  4C,.  The  MissiNsippi, 
the  IVii*  river,  the  Colunil)ia,  and  Honie  lakes, 
formed  the  means  of  this  comnuinication,  and  little 
iisefid  as  it  would  seem  to  us  in  a  latitude  so  hi;;h. 
It  was  deemed  a  discovery  of  f^reat  moment  hyThe 
Kn;;liMh.  McKen/.ie  receiveci  the  honor  of  kni^lit- 
ln)od  for  hisenterpriHc;  the  Urilish  fur  traders  im- 
mediately began  to  export  their  furs  to  China  by 
tho  direct  route  of  the  Columbia,  and  the  privilege 
of  iiavigatin-  that  river  for  ten  years  has  been  se- 
cured to  them  by  treaty. 

Tlie  Mis.souri  nljove  upon  the  Maiulan  villa"-es 
was  yet  unknown.  From  the  niouih  of  tlie  i\fis- 
sissip[)i  a  man  of  genius  projected  its  discovery. 
In  17!)li  the  Karon  de  Carondelel,  governor  gener- 
al of  Louisiana,  planned  un  expedition  to  the 
source.^  of  the  Missouri  and  tiien.e  to  the  Pacific 
ocean.  Ile^  obtained  the  approbaliou  of  Charles 
n-'  1  "^'  "''  ^l"^'"-  ^  liljcral  compensati(m  was 
olTered  by  the  King,  and  the  Baron  announced  an 
additional  reward  of  three  thousand  (h)llars  to  the 
persons  who  sliouhl  first  .see  the  great  ocean.  Tlie 
expedition  was  undertaken  by  Don  Jaetiues  Cla- 
rnorgan,  an  enterprising  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  who 
prosecuted  it  some  di.slance  up  the  Mi.ssouri  at 
great  oxpcnse,  but  without  accomplishing  the 
Views  of  the  Spanish  Government. 

A  few  years  after,  Louisiana  changed  its  master. 
The  eyes  of  Mr.  Jed'ertion,  taking  the  direction  of 
so  many  eminent  men,  were  turned  upon  the  Po 
citic  ocean,  and  under  lii.^^  auspices  the  labors  of 
Lewis  and  Clark  have  deinonsirated  the  existence 
of  a  water  eonnnunication,  with  a  ft;w  portafcs, 
through  the  heai't  and  centre  of  the  Ptcpublic  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  rivers  Columbia, 
Missouri,  and  Ohio,  form  tliis  line,  and  open  a 
channel  to  Asia,  short,  direct,  safe,  cheap,  and  cx- 
clu.sively  American,  which  invites   tiie  eiiteri)ri.se 


01  American  citizens,  and  promises  to  them  a  splen- 
did participation  in  thecoinnu'rceof  the  East. 

yi.  I'raclimhUUy  of  this  ruvte.—T\\o  new  route 
will  consist  of  four  j)arts: — 1.  A  sea  voya"c 
across  the  North  Pacific  ocean.  2.  A  river  iiav"i- 
gation  11])  the  Columbia.  .•}.  A  land  carriage  across 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  4.  A  river  navigation  de- 
scending the  Missouri. 


11. — HARBOR  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  CO- 
«      LUMBIA. 

Iftti-r  from  f^enator  nentm  l„  Jama;  Blair,  Esq., 

United  Slates  J\'avy. 

Washinoton  City,  Mirch  30,  1846. 

DnAR  Siii:  I  have  understood  that  you  were  one 

of  ihc  otticers  of  the  late  Ex])loring  Expedition 

under  Captain  "Wilkes,  who  made  the  survey  of 


ihii  mouth  of  tlic  Columbia  rivor;  Mcisrs.  Knox 
and  Ueynolds,  who  are  not  now  in  thin  city,  lieinjj 
the  other  two;  and  that  ymi  were  upwards  of  two 
monlho  engaged  in  that  work.  If  ho,  I  should 
BUftpone  that  yourself,  and  the  two  gentlemen 
named,  inu.<t  i)e  lietler  aciinainted  with  tlie  moutii 
of  that  river  than  any  other  persiuiH  in  the  world; 
and  desiring  to  iiave  the  best  information  in  rela- 
tion to  the  place,  I  address  myself  to  you  idone, 
in  the  al)sence  of  Messrs.  Knox  and  Reynolds,  for 
the  fullest  account  which  you  can  give  mc  of  it, 
with  all  its  defects  and  capabilities  as  a  harbor  for 
vessels  of  war  or  commerce,  such  as  it  is  now  in 
a  state  (jf  nature,  and  such  ns  it  may  be  in  tho 
hands  of  a  maritime  power,  and  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  beacons,  buoys,  lights,  pilots,  and 
steam  tow-boats.  The  character  of  the  coa.st  about 
it,  whether  high  or  low  land— the  character  of  the 
channels,  bars,  and  breakers — depth  of  water  on 
the  bar,  and  also  on  the  inside  and  outside  of  tho 
bar — distanie  across  the  bar,  and  the  length  of 
time  to  cross  it,  coming  in  and  going  out — the  cur- 
rents, winds,  and  tides — temperature  of  the  air, 
summer  and  winter — ca|iacity  of  the  port  as  to  the 
mimlierof  vessels  it  can  receive — its  security  ('ri>m 
winds — its  defensibility  against  eniuuies — its  prox- 
imity to  the  sea— the  points,  if  any,  outside  of  tho 
harbor  to  shelter,  or  hide  an  enemy's  fleet  block- 
ading the  port,  or  waylaying  its  commerce — with 
all  other  information  necessary  to  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  place  as  n  good  or  bad  port,  and 
as  being  capable  or  not  capable  of  being  made 
safer  and  better.  I  wish  you  to  give  me,  if  pos- 
sible, the  full  result  of  your  experience  and  ol)ser- 
yations  during  the  whole  time  you  were  employed 
in  the  survey,  with  the  facts  and  circumstances 
which  justify  your  opinions,  and  which  I  may  rely 
on  in  any  use  which  I  may  choose  to  make  ot  your 
statements. 
Very  respectfully,  sir,  your  friend, 

THOMAS  H.  BENTON. 


James  Dlaih,  Esq.,  U.  S.  N. 

James  Blair  lo  Thomas  H.  Benton. 

WAsiiiKGTON,.'?7)n7  2,  184G. 

Sir:  I  answer  your  inijuiries  of  the  30th  ultimo. 
I  regret  that  neither  Lieutenants  Knox  or  Reynolds 
are  in  the  cily,  for  information  from  them  would 
be  more  satisfactiny  to  you.  They  are  both  se- 
nior to  myself;  and  the  first  being  directly  cliai-ired 
with,  and  responsible  for,  the  service,  in  which 
I  cooperated,  a  statement  from  liim  particularly 
would  have  been  much  greater  authority  than  any- 
thing from  me.  Yet  I  venture  to  say  that  it  would 
be  precisely  the  same  in  import,  howevei  in  other 
respects  more  satisfactory. 

Lieutenant  Knox,  commander  of  tho  Flying 
Fish,  conducted  and  comf.lcted  tho  survey  witli 
great  ability,  slinring  equally  with  Lieutenant  Rey- 
nolds and  myself  the  drudgery  of  sounding  out  the 
hnrboc,  clmnnels,  and  !,uir. 

The  accompanying  chart  will  show  you  how 
fiiithfully  the  work  wag  performed — every  spot  in 
the  bed  of  the  river  having  its  depth  ascertained. 
The  diagram  will  explain  how  easily  the  river  may 
be  entered  by  ranges  of  landmarks,  and  without 
the  compass.     The  oijly  difficulty  in  entering  the 


J 


ife,. 


86 


harbor  of  the  Cohimbia,  is  the  strength  of  the  cur- 
rents. They  vary  from  five  to  three  miles  an 
hour,  according  to  »he  time  of  the  tide,  and  differ- 
ing in  several  parts  of  the  channel.  When  the 
water  is  low,  and  confined  to  the  channels,  the  cur- 
rents are  very  strong;  but  as  the  river  rises  the  tide 
sweeps  in  over  the  middle  sands,  and  are  much 
moderated. 

During  the  two  months  and  a  half  we  were  en- 
gaged m  the  Flying  Fish  upon  this  survey,  from 
Augj.ist  to  November,  we  had  ample  opportunity 
to  observe  the  effect  of  all  weathers  upon  the  bar 
and  channels.  In  heavy  weather  the  bar  is  dan- 
gerous, but  not  more  so  than  anv  other  bar,  with 
the  same  depth  of  water  and  "in  like  situation. 
J  <="a""els  are  very  much  protected  by  the  north 
and  south  breakers,  upon  which  the  sea  breaks, 
ieavmg  the  channels  comparatively  smooth,  and 
when  the  sea  is  running  highest,  the  more  com- 
pletely is  it  broken  upon  these  breakwaters.  If  the 
bar  and  channels  were  buoyed  out,  there  would  be 
no  necessity  for  pilots.  Four-and-a-half  fathoms 
IS  the  least  water  found  on  the  bar  at  any  time. 
1  his  IS  sufficient  water  for  frigates  and  the  larn-est 
merchantmen,  even  with  a  large  swell  runnin<'? 

There  is  as  much  water  on  this  bar  as  through 
the  famous  Gedney  Channel  into  the  harbor  of 
JMew  York.  In  a  state  as  it  is  now,  it  is  far  pref- 
erable to  that  on  many  accounts— especially  on 
the  proximity  of  safe  anchorage  to  the  sea,  w-hich 
the  bold  shores  of  the  river,  the  high  land,  and  the 
heavy  timber,  cover  from  the  storm. 

Lieutenant  Knox  discovered  the  south  channel, 
(which  renders  the  entrance  into  the  river  much 
more  direct  and  easy,)  when,  upon  a  reconnoissance 
1  J  j^^?'"^  ^^  ^^  performed,  he  observed  and  con- 
cluded that  such  a  vast  body  of  water  as  swept 
between  the  great  middle  sands  and  the  southern 
shore  must  create  a  deep  channel.  He  pulled 
through  it  in  a  boat,  and  followed  shortly  after- 
wards with  the  schooner  drawing  nine  feet"  water. 
1  his  channel  is  a  straight  chute,  and,  takin'^  the 
direct  course  of  the  dead  tree  landmark  with  the 
remoter  one  on  Young's  Point,  [Cockscomb  Hill,! 
you  enter  the  river  on  a  straight  line;  never  having 
Jess  than  four  and  a  half  fathoms  water,  and  a  width 
of  from  three-quarters  to  one-third  of  a  mile.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  entering  even  against  the  ebb  tide. 
If  the  ship  has  a  six-knot  breeze.  Three  knots  are 
sufficient  to  keep  the  range  on  with  the  flood  tide. 

1  he  wind  is  free  for  this  channel  to  enter, 
when  from  any  point  of  the  compass  west  of  north 
and  south.  Through  the  channel  the  tide  is  so 
strong  that  a  small  vessel  can  beat  through  it  with 
the  tide  against  the  wind,  and  a  large  one  dan  back 
and  hll  through  when  the  sea  is  not  high.  I  passed 
in  and  out  of  the  river,  in  the  schooner  and  boats, 
from  thirty  to  forty  times,  and  was  never  in  any 
danger,  except  when  venturing  upon  the  breakers 
or  the  middle  sands.  Lieutenant  Knox  would 
sometimes  club  through  the  south  channel  in  a 
ca  m,  merely  using  his  anchor  to  sheer  from  one 
side  of  (he  channel  to  the  nthrr,  as  the  occasion 
required.  If  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  of  the  English 
navy,  knew  this  channel,  he  kept  it  to  himself,  as 
he  did  all  the  information  he  had  obtained  while 
here.  This  was  ingratitude,  unless  the  result  of 
obedience  to  positive  orders  from  the  Admiralty; 


for  the  Peacock  assisted  him,  when  unfortunate,  in 
the  Fejee  Islands,  and  Captain  Hudson's  want  of 
information  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  loss  of 
his  ship;  yet  this  disaster  might  have  been  avoii'- 
ed,  if  the  precaution  of  feeling  our  way  in  had  been 
adopted.  , 

While  the  Peacock  was  going  to  pieces  on  the 
north  breaker.  Lieutenant  Knox,  in  the  schooner 
Flying  Fish,  felt  his  way  with  the  lead  over  the 
bar,  and  was  about  to  anchor  near  Cape  Disap- 
pointment, and  would  easily  thence  have  entered 
the  river,  but  was  ordered  to  sea  again  by  signal 
from  the  Peacock.    After  the  discoveH^  of  the 
south  channel,  we  used  it  or  the  north  as  served 
best  for  the  occasion.    You  can  see,  by  inspecting 
the  accompanying  chart,  that  the  north  channel 
(which  seems  to  have  been  the  only  channel  known, 
or  at  least  used,  until  Knox's  discovery  of  the 
south  channel)  has  two  elbows,  and  it  is,  besides, 
subject  to  strong  cross  t-Jes.     It  is,  however, 
deeper  and  wider  than  the  south  channel.  All  things 
considered,  I  think  the  south  channel  preferable 
for  entering,  and  the  north  for  leaving  the  river, 
with  the  prevailing  northwest  sea  breeze.     This 
sea  breeze  generally  prevails  throughout  the  year, 
in  all  clear  weather,  from  about  eleven  o'clock  A. 
M.  until  sunset.    There  was,  during  the  season 
we  were  on  the  Northwest  coast,  much  more  clear 
weather  th^n  I  have  ever  experienced  on  the  East 
coast  of  the  United  States  at  the  same  season  of 
the  year,  and  a  milder  climate  at  all  seasons. 

You  will  perceive,  by  inspecting  the  diagram, 
that  the  Norilp.vfst  sea-breeze  is  a  leading  wind  in 
through  the  south,  and  a  leading  wind  out  through 
the  north  channel. 

In  answer  to  your  Inquiries  of  the  depth  of  water 
on  the  bar,  I  reply  that  the  mean  depth  is  about 
five  fathoms:  in  and  outside  of  it,  six  and  a  half 
fathoms:  distance  across  it,  half  a  mile.  When 
the  current  of  the  river  combines  witli  the  tide,  the 
water  flows  out  of  the  river  five  miles  an  hour; 
the  current  against  the  flood  tide  nearly  neutralize 
each  other.  Mean  rise  of  the  tide,  about  six  feet. 
The  winds  prevail  from  the  north,  northwest, 
and  west,  ana  moderate  during  the  summer;  du- 
ring the  win*er,  f\'om  west  to  southeast,  and 
stormy.  Temperature  of  the  air,  as  mild  as  that 
of  Europe,  in  the  same  latitudes,  during  the  same 
seasons  Security  from  winds  as  good  as  any 
harbor  that  I  have  ever  been  in  of  the  same  size. 

Its  defensibility  perfectly  easy  by  those  in  pos- 
session of  both  the  Cape  and  Ponit  Adams.  From 
the  cape  you  can  command  the  North  and  the 
Chinook  channels,  by  a  raking  fire  for  two  and  a 
half  miles,  whether  in  approaching  or  receding 
from  the  cape,  after  passing  it.  Every  ship  is 
obliged  to  pass  at  the  nearest  point  within  musket 
shot.  You  have  the  same  command  of  the  South 
and  Clatsop  channels  from  Point  Adams;  and  here 
ships  are  obliged  to  pass  within  a  half  to  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile,  and  may  be  stibjected  to  a 
raking  fire  in  the  approach  and  in  receding,  after 
passing.  Even  the  tempomiy  occupation  of  the 
middle  sands  with  heavy  ordnance  hohts  perfect 
control  of  the  passage  up  the  river.  A  secure  har- 
bor may  be  reached  in  Baker's  Bay,  or  near  the 


! 


N 


m 


Clatsop  shore,  within  Point  Adams,  within  three 
and  a  half  miles  of  the  open  sea.     Frequently,  in 


!'*»!»«- !ti: -jusjaati. , 


89 


:i 


if 


twenty  minutes  after  wcis^liing  the  anchor,  we 
have  been  out  at  sea.  We'"  were  about  this  time 
coming  out  wlien  the  squadron  (the  Porpoise,  Ore- 
gon, and  Flying  Fish)  left  the  river. 

Slioal  Water  Bay,  to  tlie  northward,  is  the  only 
shelter  near  the  Columbia  river,  and  tliat  only  for 
small  vessels;  for  the  entrance  to  it  is  shoal  and 
intricate. 

The  harbor  of  the  Columbia  river,  as  a  seaport, 
IS  inferior  to  none,  except  Newport,  on  the  east 
coast  of  the  United  States,  in  point  of  security  from 
winds,  defensibility,  proximity  to  the  sea,  or  capa- 
city as  a  harbor  for  vessels  of  war  or  commerce. 

In  the  hands  of  a  maritime  Power,  with  all  the 
advantages  of  pilots,  buoys,  lights,  and  steam  tow- 
boats,  It  will  be  found  one  of  the  best  harbors  in 
the  world. 

In  addition  to'my  own  experience  and  observa- 
tion, (the  results  of  which  are  found  in  the  notes  of 
the  survey,  and  marked  on  t'-e  chart,)  I  obtained 
much  information,  confirming  my  opinion,  from 
Mr.  Birney,  commanding  at  Fort  George,  former- 
ly called  Astoria. 

I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
JAMES  BLAIR, 
Passed  Midshipman  U.  S.  X. 

Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton, 

United  States  Senate. 


Mr.  Maginn's  statement  and  opinion. 
Mr.  John  M-.ginn,  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
and,  since  the  year  1828,  a  regular  licensed  pilot  in 
the  harbor  of  that  city,  now  President  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Pilots  in  New  York,  and  at  present  in 
the  city  of  Washington  as  the  agent  of  the  State 
pilots  in  their  application  to  Congress,  being  re- 
quested by  Senator  Benton  to  examine  the  chart 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  in  the  Library  of 
Congress,  as  made  upon  surveys  and  soundings  by 
officers  under  Captain  Wilkes,  and  to  compare  the 
same  with  a  chart  of  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and 
to  give  my  opinion  of  the  comparative  merits  of  the 
two  harbors,  do  hereby  state  and  declare — 

That  I  have  made  such  comparison  accordingly, 
and  find  that  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  is  the Tjet- 
ter  harbor,  and  has  manifest  advantages  over  the 
harbor  of  New  York,  in  all  the  essential  points 
which  constitute  a  good  harbor.  It  has  deeper 
water  on  the  bar,  having  four  and  a  half  fathoms, 
without  the  addition  of  tide,  which  is  tliere  said  to 
be  eight  feet,  while  the  New  York  harbor  has  on 
the  bar  but  four  fothoms,  without  the  addition  of 
the  tide,  whicl-  is  six  feet.  The  bar  in  the  Colum- 
bia is  half  a  mile  across,  while  that  of  Netv  York 
is  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile.  The  channel  on 
the  l)ar,  in  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  is  about 
six  thousand  feet  wide  at  the  narrowest,  and  twelve 
thousand  feet  at  the  widest,  and  then  shoals  grad- 
ually on  each  side;  while  the  channel  on  the  bar 
off  Sandy  Hook  is  but  about  six  hundred  feet  and 
shoals  rapidly.  The  channel  across  the  bar  is 
straight  at  the  Columbia;  that  of  New  York  is 
crooked.  As  soon  as  the  bar  is  crossed  in  the 
Columbia  two  channels  present  themselves,  one 


the  south,  or  new  channel,  discovered  by  Captain 
Wilkes's  officers,  who  made  the  soun'dings,  en- 
tirely straight,  and  deep  enough  for  ships  of  the 
Une:  the  other,  the  north,  or  old  channel,  beino- 
crooked,  or  rather  forming  an  elbow,  and  deep 
enough  for  any  ships  after  crossing  the  bar.  Both 
these  channels  are  from  six  to  twelve  thousand 
feet  wide  or  more,  and  free  from  shoals;  while  the 
New  York  channels,  after  crossing  the  bar,  are 
narrow  and  crooked,  and  beset  with  shoals,  which 
require  many  changes  of  courses  in  the  ship.  In 
accessibility  to  the  sea  the  Columbia  is  far  the 
best,  as  it  is  immediately  at  the  sea,  and  ships  can 
get  out  of  the  sea  into  the  harbor  at  once,  and  also 
get  out  at  once  into  the  high  sea,  and  thus  more 
easily  elude  cruisers  in  time  of  war.  A  great  num- 
ber of  good  and  safe  anchorages  are  found  in  the 
Columbia  as  soon  as  the  ship  enters,  and  room 
enough  for  thousands  of  vessels,  and  deep  enough 
for  ships  of  the  line. 

The  bar  and  banks  of  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
liia  are  all  of  hard  sand,  and  therefore  not  liable  to 
shift,  and  being  free  from  rocks  are  less  danger- 
ous.   The  land  on  each  side  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  is  high,  and  makes  a  marked  opening 
into  the  sea,  and  confines  all  the  water  of  the  river 
to  one  outlet,  and,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be 
easy  of  defence.    There  seem  to  be  no  points, 
islands,  or  bays  off  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  to 
shelter  enemies'  cruisers  while  lying  in  wait  to 
capture  vessels  going  in,  or  coming  out;  while  the 
New  York  harljor  presents  such  shelter  for  an 
enemy.    The  winds  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
are  marked  regular  and  steady,  blowing  six  months 
one  way,  and  six  months  another;  while  the  winds 
at  New  York  are  entirely  variable,  and  cannot  be 
calculated  upon  by  the  mariner  for  any  time.   The 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  is  free  from  ice,  and  also 
from  great  heat,  the  temperature  never  falling  be- 
low the  freezing  point,  nor  rising  above  the  sum- 
mer warmth.     The  current  of  the  river  is  said  to 
be  strong,  but  I  cannot  see  that  it  offers  any  serious 
obstacle.     The  breakers  on  each  side  of  the  chan- 
nel are  also  represented  to  be  very  great;  but  with 
a  channel  so  wide,  and  a  bar  so  narrow,  and  free 
from  rocks  and  shoals,  these  would  be  nothing  to 
experienced  mariners.     Taking  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  as  it  now  is,  in  a  state  of  nature,  with- 
out the  aid  of  pilots,  buoys,  beacons,  light  houses, 
and  steam  tow-boats,  l"  deem  it  a  good  harbor: 
with  the  aid  of  these  advantages,  I  would  deem  it 
a  far  better  harbor  than  New  York,  and  capable  of 
containing  an  unlimited  number  of  ships.     In  fact, 
I  have  never  seen  so  large  a  river,  with  its  water 
ail  so  well  enclosed  by  bold  shores  at  its  mouth, 
and  making  so  commodious  a  bay,  large  enou"-h 
to  hold  any  number  of  ships,  and  at  the  same  time 
small  enough  to  be  easily  defended,  and  where 
there  were  more  anchoring  and  sheltering  places 
for  ships,  and  where  they  could  be  close  up  to 
bold  shores,  and  be  better  under  the  protection  of 
forts  and  batteries. 

JNO.  MAGINN. 
Washington  City,  ^jml  26,  1846. 


